Comparison of the anaerobic microbiota of deep-water Geodia spp. and sandy sediments in the Straits of Florida

Abstract

Marine sediments and sponges may show steep variations in redox potential, providing niches for both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. Geodia spp. and sediment specimens from the Straits of Florida were fixed using paraformaldehyde and 95% ethanol (v/v) for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In addition, homogenates of sponge and sediment samples were incubated anaerobically on various cysteine supplemented agars. FISH analysis showed a prominent similarity of microbiota in sediments and Geodia spp. samples. Furthermore, the presence of sulfate-reducing and annamox bacteria as well as other obligate anaerobic microorganisms in both Geodia spp. and sediment samples were also confirmed. Anaerobic cultures obtained from the homogenates allowed the isolation of a variety of facultative anaerobes, primarily Bacillus spp. and Vibrio spp. Obligate anaerobes such as Desulfovibrio spp. and Clostridium spp. were also found. We also provide the first evidence for a culturable marine member of the Chloroflexi, which may enter into symbiotic relationships with deep-water sponges such as Geodia spp. Resuspended sediment particles, may provide a source of microorganisms able to associate or form a symbiotic relationship with sponges.

Functional genomic signatures of sponge bacteria reveal unique and shared features of symbiosis

“…This suggests that specific pathways and regulation of assimilation are preferred in the sponge-associated community and that assimilation processes rather than oxidation might be important for the ammonium utilization by the bacterial community in C. concentrica. In addition, anaerobic pathways such as sulphate reduction, denitrification or anammox, which have been described in deep-water sponge systems (Hoffmann et al, 2009;Bruck et al, 2010), are not abundant in the C. concentrica metagenome, which is consistent with the thin structure of this shallow-water sponge's being unlikely to experience anaerobiosis.…”

A Post-Genomic View of the Ecophysiology, Catabolism and Biotechnological Relevance of Sulphate-Reducing Prokaryotes

“…In particular, members of the Desulfovibrionaceae have recently been identified in the intestines of the Chinese roe deer Capreolus pygargus (Li, Zhang, Xu, et al, 2014) and Pekin/Muscovy ducks (Vasaï et al, 2014), the digestive tract of the medicinal leech Hirudo verbena (Maltz et al, 2014) and larvae of the beetle Holotrichia parallela (Huang & Zhang, 2013), faecal samples of Mexican black howler (Alouatta pigra) monkeys (Nakamura et al, 2011) and chickens from Czech poultry farms (Videnska et al, 2014), homogenates of the deep-sea sponge Geodia spp. (Brück et al, 2010) and Asbestopluma hypogea (Dupont, Corre, Li, Vacelet, & BourguetKondracki, 2013). Notably, "laboratory" mice with impaired glucose tolerance and treated with a high-fat diet showed increased abundance of Desulfovibrionaceae, possibly relevant for the development of the metabolic syndrome .…”

Assessing water quality by ratio of the number of dominant bacterium species between surface/subsurface sediments in Haihe River Basin

“…), and obligate anaerobic species (such as Clostridium sp.) have been identified as the dominant species (Brück et al, 2010;Jing, 2010;Jing and Wang, 2012). Although the difference in microbial community composition can be observed in electrophoretic profiles obtained by DGGE (Kent and Triplett, 2002), no definite correlation was found between the diversity of bacterial communities (Supplementary Data 3-a-e) and the comprehensive G average (Supplementary Data 4-a-d).…”

“…Aquatic sediments exhibit steep variations in redox potential and provide different niches for aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms (Brück et al, 2010). In the 30 sediments from Haihe River Basin, aerobic species (such as Streptomyces sp.…”

“…For instance, sedimentary microorganisms are a complex microbial assemblage; species identification is the basis of further studies. Traditional taxonomy requires separating various isolates into monocultures; however, only a small percentage (approximately < 1%) of species can be cultivated in laboratories because most of the anaerobic aquatic microbes can be cultured under obligate anaerobic conditions (Brück et al, 2010). Thus, the traditional phenotypic identification may lead to wrong conclusions (Das et al, 2006).…”