High similarity in the microbiota of cold- water sponges of the Genus Mycale from two different geographical areas
Loading...
Date
2018-06-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Peerj Inc
Abstract
Sponges belonging to genus Mycale are common and widely distributed across the
oceans and represent a significant component of benthic communities in term of their
biomass, which in many species is largely composed by bacteria. However, the microbial
communities associated with Mycale species inhabiting different geographical areas
have not been previously compared. Here, we provide the first detailed description of
the microbiota of two Mycale species inhabiting the sub-Antarctic Magellan region
(53 S) and the Western Antarctic Peninsula (62 64 S), two geographically distant
areas (>1,300 km) with contrasting environmental conditions. The sponges Mycale
(Aegogropila) magellanica and Mycale (Oxymycale) acerata are both abundant members
of benthic communities in the Magellan region and in Antarctica, respectively. High
throughput sequencing revealed a remarkable similarity in the microbiota of both
sponge species, dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, with both species sharing
more than 74% of the OTUs. In contrast, 16% and 10% of the OTUs were found
only in either M. magellanica or M. acerata, respectively. Interestingly, despite slight
differences in the relative abundance, the most dominant OTUs were present in both
species, whereas the unique OTUs had very low abundances (less than 1% of the total
abundance). These results show a significant overlap among the microbiota of both
Mycale species and also suggest the existence of a low level of specificity of the most
dominant symbiont groups.
Description
Keywords
Ciencia, Marine sponges, Symbiotic interactions, Bacterial community, Dredging management, Esponjas marinas
Citation
PeerJ Vol: 6: e4935