Microbial epibiotic community of the deep-sea galatheid squat lobster Munidopsis alvisca

Janina Leinberger,Magdalini Christodoulou,Andreas Teske,Thorsten Brinkhoff,Anja Poehlein,Javier Caraveo-Patiño,Felix Milke

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06666-x

Abstract

Life at hydrothermal vent sites is based on chemosynthetic primary producers that supply heterotrophic microorganisms with substrates and generate biomass for higher trophic levels. Often, chemoautotrophs associate with the hydrothermal vent megafauna. To investigate attached bacterial and archaeal communities on deep-sea squat lobsters, we collected ten specimens from a hydrothermal vent in the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California). All animals were identified as Munidopsis alvisca via morphological and molecular classification, and intraspecific divergence was determined. Amplicon sequencing of microbial DNA and cDNA revealed significant differences between microbial communities on the carapaces of M. alvisca and those in ambient sea water. Major epibiotic bacterial taxa were chemoautotrophic Gammaproteobacteria, such as Thiotrichaceae and Methylococcaceae, while archaea were almost exclusively represented by sequences affiliated with Ca. Nitrosopumilus. In sea water samples, Marine Group II and III archaea and organoheterotrophic Alphaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia and Planctomycetacia were more dominant. Based on the identified taxa, we assume that main metabolic processes, carried out by M. alvisca epibiota, include ammonia, methane and sulphide oxidation. Considering that M. alvisca could benefit from sulphide detoxification by its epibiota, and that attached microbes are supplied with a stable habitat in proximity to substrate-rich hydrothermal fluids, a mutualistic host-microbe relationship appears likely.

Highlights

Life at hydrothermal vent sites is based on chemosynthetic primary producers that supply heterotrophic microorganisms with substrates and generate biomass for higher trophic levels
By identification of all squat lobster specimens as Munidopsis alvisca, we demonstrated that Rebecca’s Roost, as many other hydrothermal vent environments, harbours a low-diversity, high-abundance decapod megafauna
Microbial epibiotic communities on M. alvisca carapaces were dominated by the same taxa found abundant on other deep-sea hydrothermal vent decapods

Summary

Introduction

Life at hydrothermal vent sites is based on chemosynthetic primary producers that supply heterotrophic microorganisms with substrates and generate biomass for higher trophic levels. Deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites are extreme marine habitats, often characterised by low oxygen levels and high concentrations of reduced chemical compounds that originate from emissions of hydrothermal fluids or pyrolysis of organic matter[1,2]. Life at those sites is generally assumed to be sustained by chemosynthetic primary producers and their interactions with other o rganisms[3]. Common chemoautotrophs found in sediments and waters throughout the Guaymas Basin include members of the Gamma- and Epsilonproteobacteria as well as Scientific Reports | (2022) 12:2675 Thaumarchaeota, of which the latter are usually strongly represented by the genus Ca. Nitrosopumilus[14,15]. There are no studies describing the composition and diversity of the epibiota, or investigating the potential role of the epibionts in host ecology, even though Munidopsis spp. are considered as “classical” and ubiquitous deep-sea fauna[19–21]

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