title: Specificity and transcriptional activity of microbiota associated with low and high microbial abundance sponges from the Red Sea.
abstract: Marine sponges are generally classified as high microbial abundance (HMA) and low microbial abundance (LMA) species. Here, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the diversity, specificity and transcriptional activity of microbes associated with an LMA sponge (Stylissa carteri), an HMA sponge (Xestospongia testudinaria) and sea water collected from the central Saudi Arabia coast of the Red Sea. Altogether, 887 068 denoised sequences were obtained, of which 806 661 sequences remained after quality control. This resulted in 1477 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were assigned to 27 microbial phyla. The microbial composition of S. carteri was more similar to that of sea water than to that of X. testudinaria, which is consistent with the observation that the sequence data set of S. carteri contained many more possibly sea water sequences (~24%) than the X. testudinaria data set (~6%). The most abundant OTUs were shared between all three sources (S. carteri, X. testudinaria, sea water), while rare OTUs were unique to any given source. Despite this high degree of overlap, each sponge species contained its own specific microbiota. The X. testudinaria-specific bacterial taxa were similar to those already described for this species. A set of S. carteri-specific bacterial taxa related to Proteobacteria and Nitrospira was identified, which are likely permanently associated with S. carteri. The transcriptional activity of sponge-associated microorganisms correlated well with their abundance. Quantitative PCR revealed the presence of Poribacteria, representing typical sponge symbionts, in both sponge species and in sea water; however, low transcriptional activity in sea water suggested that Poribacteria are not active outside the host context.
authors: Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Wuerzburg, Julius-von-Sachs Platz 3, 97082, Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors: Lucas
authors: L
authors: Moitinho-Silva
authors: Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Wuerzburg, Julius-von-Sachs Platz 3, 97082, Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors: Kristina
authors: K
authors: Bayer
authors: Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Computational Biosciences Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Carlo V
authors: CV
authors: Cannistraci
authors: Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Computational Biosciences Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Emily C
authors: EC
authors: Giles
authors: Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Computational Biosciences Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Taewoo
authors: T
authors: Ryu
authors: Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Computational Biosciences Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Loqmane
authors: L
authors: Seridi
authors: Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Computational Biosciences Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Timothy
authors: T
authors: Ravasi
authors: Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Wuerzburg, Julius-von-Sachs Platz 3, 97082, Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors: Ute
authors: U
authors: Hentschel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D019156:Indian Ocean; D064307:Microbiota; D010802:Phylogeny; D011161:Porifera / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: marine sponges; microbial diversity; pyrosequencing; sponge-specific microbes; symbiosis; transcriptional activity
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