Geographical location and habitat predict variation in prokaryotic community composition of Suberites diversicolor

Abstract

Purpose: Marine lakes are unique habitats that house diverse assemblages of benthic and planktonic organisms including endemic species. In this study, we aimed to assess to what extent geographical location (Berau versus Papua) and the degree of marine lake connectivity (relatively open versus closed) to the surrounding marine environment structures the prokaryotic community composition of the sponge species Suberites diversicolor. Methods: Sponge specimens were sampled in five marine lakes in Borneo and Papua and one open sea habitat in Taiwan. Result: Prokaryotic communities of S. diversicolor were dominated by members assigned to the Proteobacteria (particularly Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria) and Cyanobacteria, which together made up from 78 to 87% of sequences in all samples. The dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in most samples, OTUs 1 and 3, were both assigned to the alphaproteobacterial order Rhodospirillales with OTU-1 dominant in the marine lakes of Berau and Papua and OTU-3 in Taiwan. OTU-3 was also largely absent from Papuan samples but present in all Berau samples. Compositionally, S. diversicolor samples clustered according to geographical location with the main axis of variation separating marine lake samples collected in Berau from those collected in Papua and the second axis of variation separating open sea samples collected in Taiwan from all marine lake samples. In addition, our results suggest that the degree of lake connectivity to the open sea also influences prokaryotic composition. Conclusion: Although previous studies have shown that sponge-associated microbial communities tend to be stable across different geographical and environmental gradients, in the present study, both geography and local environmental conditions were significant predictors of variation in prokaryotic community composition of S. diversicolor.

Previously unidentified genetic structure revealed for the sponge Suberites diversicolor: implications for sponge phylogeography and population genetics

“…A recent study into prokaryotic communities ofS. diversicolor (5 lakes overlap with the current study) showed a pattern of distinct broad geographic groups (>1,400km) but no distinction between host genetic lineages and only some clustering per lake (Ferreira et al , 2020). When comparing the microbial patterns observed by Ferreira et al (2020) to genetic structure of S. diversicolor from the current study, interestingly we find no relationship apart from the broad geographic distinction (>1,400km).…”

“…diversicolor (5 lakes overlap with the current study) showed a pattern of distinct broad geographic groups (>1,400km) but no distinction between host genetic lineages and only some clustering per lake (Ferreira et al , 2020). When comparing the microbial patterns observed by Ferreira et al (2020) to genetic structure of S. diversicolor from the current study, interestingly we find no relationship apart from the broad geographic distinction (>1,400km). This is consistent with a study by Noyer and Becerro, (2012) that did not find correlations between host genetic and microbial diversity for the sponge Spongia lamella in the Mediterranean (<500km).…”

“…Analyzing the microbes of the same S. diversicolor populations, Cleary et al (2013) found that the associated microbial community did not differ among sponges sampled from marine lakes and open sea habitats within one region. Between broad geographic regions (>1,400km) the associated microbial communities were significantly different (Ferreira et al , 2020). Clearly, there is a need to further elucidate population genetic patterns and see how host and microbe patterns contrast.…”

“…In order to assess the effect of level of genetic resolution, we compared results of our genome-wide sequencing strategy (double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing, (ddRAD, Peterson et al, 2012)) to previously published results on the same individuals using single markers (COI and ITS ) (Beckinget al , 2013). Furthermore, we compare host population structure with previously published structure from associated microbial communities in S. diversicolor (Cleary et al , 2013;Ferreira et al , 2020) to assess whether sponge host and microbes are on similar evolutionary tracts.…”

Spatial and environmental variables structure sponge symbiont communities

“…in the Mediterranean Sea. More recent studies have, however, identified significant differences in prokaryotic composition between geographically separated populations of several HMA and LMA sponge species (Díez‐Vives et al, 2020 ; Ferreira et al, 2020 ; Griffiths et al, 2019 ; Marino et al, 2017 ; Swierts et al, 2018 ; Taylor et al, 2005 ). These contrasting results would appear to warrant a more formal testing of the impact of geographic distance on sponge‐associated prokaryotic dissimilarity.…”