title: Keeping it in the family: Coevolution of latrunculid sponges and their dominant bacterial symbionts.
abstract: The Latrunculiidae are a family of cold water sponges known for their production of bioactive pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids. Previously it was shown that the bacterial community associated with a Tsitsikamma sponge species comprises unusual bacterial taxa and is dominated by a novel Betaproteobacterium. Here, we have characterized the bacterial communities associated with six latrunculid species representing three genera (Tsitsikamma, Cyclacanthia, and Latrunculia) as well as a Mycale species, collected from Algoa Bay on the South African southeast coast. The bacterial communities of all seven sponge species were dominated by a single Betaproteobacterium operational taxonomic unit (OTU0.03), while a second OTU0.03was dominant in the Mycale sp. The Betaproteobacteria OTUs from the different latrunculid sponges are closely related and their phylogenetic relationship follows that of their hosts. We propose that the latrunculid Betaproteobacteria OTUs are members of a specialized group of sponge symbionts that may have coevolved with their hosts. A single dominant Spirochaetae OTU0.03was present in the Tsitsikamma and Cyclacanthia sponge species, but absent from the Latrunculia and Mycale sponges. This study sheds new light on the interactions between latrunculid sponges and their bacterial communities and may point to the potential involvement of dominant symbionts in the biosynthesis of the bioactive secondary metabolites.
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors: Gwynneth F
authors: GF
authors: Matcher
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors: Samantha C
authors: SC
authors: Waterworth
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.|Department of Biotechnology, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.
authors: Tara A
authors: TA
authors: Walmsley
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors: Tendayi
authors: T
authors: Matsatsa
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors: Shirley
authors: S
authors: Parker-Nance
authors: Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.|Faculty of Natural Science, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors: Michael T
authors: MT
authors: Davies-Coleman
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors: Rosemary A
authors: RA
authors: Dorrington
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D020562:Betaproteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005784:Gene Amplification; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011161:Porifera / Q000145:classification* / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Betaproteobacterium; Latrunculiidae; Spirochaetae; symbionts