Symbiotic prokaryotic communities from different populations of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta.

ABSTRACT: The prokaryotic community composition of the ecologically dominant sponge, Xestospongia muta, and the variability of this community across in different populations of sponges from the Caribbean and Bahamas were quantified using 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The symbiotic prokaryotic communities of X. muta were significantly different than the surrounding bacterioplankton communities while an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) of the sponge prokaryotic symbionts from three geographically distant sites showed that both symbiont and bacterioplankton populations were significantly different between locations. Comparisons of individual sponges based on the UniFrac P-test also revealed significant differences in community composition between individual sponges. The sponges harbored a var

SUBMITTER: Fiore CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3892340 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature