First Record of Microbiomes of Sponges Collected From the Persian Gulf, Using Tag Pyrosequencing

Abstract

The Persian Gulf is a special habitat of marine sponges whose bacterial communities are under-investigated. Recently, next-generation sequencing technology has comprehensively improved the knowledge of marine sponge-associated bacteria. For the first time, this study aimed to evaluate the diversity of the Persian Gulf sponge-associated bacteria using tag pyrosequencing in Iran. In this study, 10 sponge samples from 6 different taxonomic orders were collected from the Persian Gulf using SCUBA diving. The diversity of the bacteria associated with the marine sponges was investigated using the 16S rRNA gene PCR-tagged pyrosequencing method. A total of 68,628 high-quality sequences were obtained and clustered at a 97% similarity into 724 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs), representing 17 bacterial phyla. Cyanobacteria was the most abundant phylum in the sponges, followed by Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Other phyla were detected as minor groups of bacteria. Bacterial community richness, Shannon, and Simpson indices revealed the highest diversity in sponge S11 (Dictyoceratida sp.) compared to other sponges. This study showed a diverse structure of bacterial communities associated with the Persian Gulf sponges. The dominance of Cyanobacteria may suggest an ecological importance of this phylum in the Persian Gulf sponges.

Exploring the Diversity and Metabolic Profiles of Bacterial Communities Associated With Antarctic Sponges (Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea)

“…Bacterial members involved in the nitrogen cycle, i.e., Bradyrhizobium spp., were also found, even if only in M. hanitschi_THB11. Members in such genus are well-known typical symbionts of leguminous plant, but they were recently detected also in the microbiome of sponges from the Persian Gulf (Najafi et al, 2018). Among Alphaproteobacteria, the genus Sphingomonas was present at similar percentages in almost all sponges.…”

“…Some Methylobacterium affiliates are able to grow on one-carbon compounds (such as methanol, methylamine, formaldehyde, and formate). They are frequently found in association with plants (Green, 2006), but recently Methylobacterium sequences were also retrieved in sponges from temperate environments (Najafi et al, 2018). Methylobacter is a methanotroph frequently detected in numerous freshwater and marine habitats (Smith et al, 2018).…”

Two new sponge species (Demospongiae: Chalinidae and Suberitidae) isolated from hyperarid mangroves of Qatar with notes on their potential antibacterial bioactivity

“…We argue that S. diversicolor would be unlikely to be found in the conditions found in the PAG. Although S. diversicolor was reported from the PAG from Bushehr, Iran [54], we believe these records need to be revisited. It has been noted that even in the type locality S. diversicolor may represent a species complex [60].…”

“…Suberitidae Schmidt, 1870 and Genus Suberites Nardo, 1833 due to its massively globularlobate shape, possession of a spicule complement consisting only of tylostyles, and the presence of an ectosomal palisade formed of bouquets of smaller tylostyles than those of the choanosome [48]. Genus Suberites has 80 species worldwide [48][49][50] [54]. A sixth species Suberites carnosus (Johnston, 1842) was previously recorded from the Indian Ocean, more specifically from the Seychelles and Minicoy Islands and the coast of India (Mumbai) [55][56][57].…”

Halioglobus maricola sp. nov., isolated from coastal seawater

“…Among the genera of the family Halieaceae, the genus Halioglobus was first established by Park et al [10], based on the description of two species retrieved from seawater samples of the north-western Pacific Ocean, and the genus's description was emended in 2018. Members of the genus Halioglobus have been found in diverse environments such as coastal sediment [21], salt marsh [22], coastal aquifer [23] and marine sponge [24] as well as seawater. As of October 2019, the genus comprises four species with validly published names, H. japonicus (type species of the genus) [10], H. pacificus [10], H. lutimaris [11] and H. sediminis [12], and is characterized by Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, NaCl-requiring, obligately aerobic and coccoid or rod-shaped bacteria that contain Q-8 as respiratory quinone and diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol as major polar lipids.…”