Transcriptional activity of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta Holobiont: molecular evidence for metabolic interchange.

ABSTRACT: Compared to our understanding of the taxonomic composition of the symbiotic microbes in marine sponges, the functional diversity of these symbionts is largely unknown. Furthermore, the application of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic techniques to functional questions on sponge host-symbiont interactions is in its infancy. In this study, we generated a transcriptome for the host and a metatranscriptome of its microbial symbionts for the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta, from the Caribbean. In combination with a gene-specific approach, our goals were to (1) characterize genetic evidence for nitrogen cycling in X. muta, an important limiting nutrient on coral reefs (2) identify which prokaryotic symbiont lineages are metabolically active and, (3) characterize the metabolic potenti

SUBMITTER: Fiore CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4412061 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature