EU project SponGES
Published June 5, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Prokaryotic Diversity and Community Patterns in Antarctic Continental Shelf Sponges

Creators

  • 1. Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • 2. Genomic and Applied Microbiology and Göttingen Genomics Laboratory, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
  • 3. enckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
  • 4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
  • 5. nstitute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany & Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • 6. nstitute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

Description

ABSTRACT

Marine sponges (Phylum Porifera) are globally distributed within marine and freshwater ecosystems. In addition, sponges host dense and diverse prokaryotic communities, which are potential sources of novel bioactive metabolites and other complex compounds. Those sponge-derived natural products can span a broad spectrum of bioactivities, from antibacterial and antifungal to antitumor and antiviral compounds. However, most analyses concerning sponge-associated prokaryotes have mainly focused on conveniently accessible relatively shallow sampling locations for sponges. Hence, knowledge of community composition, host-relatedness and biotechnological potential of prokaryotic associations in temperate and cold-water sponges from greater depths (mesophotic to mesopelagic zones) is still scarce. Therefore, we analyzed the prokaryotic community diversity of four phylogenetically divergent sponge taxa from mesophotic to mesopelagic depths of Antarctic shelf at different depths and locations in the region of the South Shetland Islands using 16S rRNA gene amplicon-based sequencing. In addition, we predicted functional profiles applying Tax4Fun from metagenomic 16S rRNA gene data to estimate their biotechnological capability and possible roles as sources of novel bioactive compounds. We found indications that cold and deep-water sponges exhibit host-specific prokaryotic communities, despite different sampling sites and depths. Functional prediction analysis suggests that the associated prokaryotes may enhance the roles of sponges in biodegradation processes of xenobiotics and their involvement in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

Notes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the excellent support of captain Thomas Wunderlich and his crew on board RV Polarstern. CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. SUPPLEMENTARY METERIAL The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00297/full#supplementary-material FUNDING TB, RD, MS, and BW were supported by the Transregional Collaborative Research Center Roseobacter (TRR51) funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). DJ thanks the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for financial support to our Antarctic Porifera research (JA-1063/17 1). DE thanks Gabriele Büttner, Simone Schätzle, and Gert Wörheide, LMU Munich for support in various aspects of the molecular investigations. Additionally, we acknowledge support by DFG and the Open Access Publication Funds of the Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS PS and GS designed and conceived the study. MS and TB collected samples during the ANT-XXVIII/4 Polarstern cruise. DJ and DE classified the sponge samples and wrote the Supplementary Section 1: Sponge barcoding and morphological taxonomy. BW undertook the laboratory work and sequencing, and generated data. RD contributed reagents and materials for sequencing. GS analyzed and interpreted the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript corrections and improved the final version. The authors greatly appreciate the thoughtful and insightful comments by the reviewers.

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Steinert et al 2019-Data_Sheet_1_Prokaryotic Diversity and Community Patterns in Antarctic Continental Shelf Sponges.PDF

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Additional details

Related works

Is derived from
Journal article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00297/full#h9 (URL)
Dataset: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00297/full#supplementary-material (URL)

Funding

SponGES – Deep-sea Sponge Grounds Ecosystems of the North Atlantic: an integrated approach towards their preservation and sustainable exploitation 679849
European Commission