Comparative Analysis of Sponge-Associated, Seawater, and Sediment Microbial Communities from Site F Cold Seep in the South China Sea.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities at Site F cold seep, ubiquitous in both the environment and the associated fauna, demonstrate clear habitat-specific partitioning. Metagenomic sequencing and binning demonstrated a striking partitioning of microbial taxa at the cold seep: whereas the sponge-associated microbiome was distinctly enriched with specialized sulfur- and methane-oxidizing bacteria that were rare in the environment, it simultaneously exhibited a significantly reduced archaeal content, lower α-diversity, and a simpler overall community structure compared to the sediment and seawater communities. Distinct evolutionary lineages and varying abundances were observed among the microbiomes from seawater, sediment, and sponges. Furthermore, their Metagenome-Assembled Genomes (MAGs) exhibited signific

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12735691 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature