Biogeography rather than association with cyanobacteria structures symbiotic microbial communities in the marine sponge Petrosia ficiformis.

ABSTRACT: The sponge Petrosia ficiformis is ubiquitous in the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic Ocean, hosting a diverse assemblage of bacteria, including, in illuminated sites, cyanobacteria. Two closely related sponge color morphs have been described, one inside caves and at their entrance (white/pink), and one on the rocky cliffs (violet). The presence of the different morphs and their ubiquity in the Mediterranean (from North-West to South-East) provides an opportunity to examine which factors mostly affect the associated microbial communities in this species: (i) presence of phototrophic symbionts or (ii) biogeography. 16S rRNA gene tag pyrosequencing data of the microbial communities revealed that Chloroflexi, Gammaproteobacteria, and Acidobacteria dominated the bacterial communities of a

SUBMITTER: Burgsdorf I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4193313 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature