Centre for Microbial Innovation, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
ISME J. 2012 Mar;6(3):564-76. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2011.116. Epub 2011 Oct 13.
Marine sponges are well known for their associations with highly diverse, yet very specific and often highly similar microbiota. The aim of this study was to identify potential bacterial sub-populations in relation to sponge phylogeny and sampling sites and to define the core bacterial community. 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing was applied to 32 sponge species from eight locations around the world's oceans, thereby generating 2567 operational taxonomic units (OTUs at the 97% sequence similarity level) in total and up to 364 different OTUs per sponge species. The taxonomic richness detected in this study comprised 25 bacterial phyla with Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi and Poribacteria being most diverse in sponges. Among these phyla were nine candidate phyla, six of them found for the first time in sponges. Similarity comparison of bacterial communities revealed no correlation with host phylogeny but a tropical sub-population in that tropical sponges have more similar bacterial communities to each other than to subtropical sponges. A minimal core bacterial community consisting of very few OTUs (97%, 95% and 90%) was found. These microbes have a global distribution and are probably acquired via environmental transmission. In contrast, a large species-specific bacterial community was detected, which is represented by OTUs present in only a single sponge species. The species-specific bacterial community is probably mainly vertically transmitted. It is proposed that different sponges contain different bacterial species, however, these bacteria are still closely related to each other explaining the observed similarity of bacterial communities in sponges in this and previous studies. This global analysis represents the most comprehensive study of bacterial symbionts in sponges to date and provides novel insights into the complex structure of these unique associations.
海洋海绵以其与高度多样化、但非常特殊且通常高度相似的微生物群的关联而闻名。本研究的目的是确定与海绵系统发育和采样地点有关的潜在细菌亚群，并定义核心细菌群落。应用 16S 核糖体 RNA 基因扩增子焦磷酸测序对来自全球海洋的 8 个地点的 32 种海绵进行了研究，总共产生了 2567 个操作分类单位（在 97%序列相似性水平下的 OTUs），每个海绵物种最多可产生 364 个不同的 OTUs。本研究中检测到的分类丰富度包括 25 个细菌门，其中变形菌门、绿弯菌门和 Poribacteria 是海绵中最多样化的。在这些门中，有 9 个候选门，其中 6 个是首次在海绵中发现的。细菌群落的相似性比较显示与宿主系统发育没有相关性，但在热带地区存在一个亚群，即热带海绵的细菌群落彼此之间比亚热带海绵更为相似。发现了一个由很少的 OTUs 组成的最小核心细菌群落（97%、95%和 90%）。这些微生物具有全球分布，可能是通过环境传播获得的。相比之下，检测到一个很大的物种特异性细菌群落，由仅存在于单个海绵物种中的 OTUs 代表。物种特异性细菌群落可能主要是垂直传播的。据推测，不同的海绵含有不同的细菌物种，但这些细菌仍然彼此密切相关，这解释了在本研究和以前的研究中观察到的海绵中细菌群落的相似性。这项全球分析是迄今为止对海绵共生细菌最全面的研究，为这些独特关联的复杂结构提供了新的见解。
