Evidence of unique and generalist microbes in distantly related sympatric intertidal marine sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae).

ABSTRACT: The diversity and specificity of microbial communities in marine environments is a key aspect of the ecology and evolution of both the eukaryotic hosts and their associated prokaryotes. Marine sponges harbor phylogenetically diverse and complex microbial lineages. Here, we investigated the sponge bacterial community and distribution patterns of microbes in three sympatric intertidal marine demosponges, Hymeniacidon perlevis, Ophlitaspongia papilla and Polymastia penicillus, from the Atlantic coast of Portugal using classical isolation techniques and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. Microbial composition assessment, with nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences (ca. 1400 bp) from the isolates (n = 31) and partial sequences (ca. 280 bp) from clone libraries (n = 349), revealed diverse bacter

SUBMITTER: Alex A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3827218 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature