PRJNA555144
Characterisation of a sponge microbiome using an integrative genome-centric approach
Marine sponges often host diverse and species-specific communities of microorganisms that are critical for host health. Previous functional genomic investigations of the sponge microbiome have focused primarily on specific symbiont lineages, which frequently make up only a small fraction of the overall community. Here we undertook genome-centric analysis of the symbiont community in the model species Ircinia ramosa and analysed 259 unique, high quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that comprised 74% of the I. ramosa microbiome. Addition of these MAGs to genome trees containing all publicly available microbial sponge symbionts increased phylogenetic diversity by 32% within the Archaea and 41% within the Bacteria. Metabolic reconstruction of the MAGs showed extensive redundancy across taxa for pathways involved in carbon fixation, B-vitamin synthesis, taurine metabolism, sulfite oxidation, and most steps of nitrogen metabolism.