Microbial Diversity and Putative Diazotrophy in High- and Low-Microbial-Abundance Mediterranean Sponges.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities associated with marine sponges carry out nutrient transformations essential for benthic-pelagic coupling; however, knowledge about their composition and function is still sparse. We evaluated the richness and diversity of prokaryotic assemblages associated with three high-microbial-abundance (HMA) and three low-microbial-abundance (LMA) sympatric Mediterranean sponges to address their stability and uniqueness. Moreover, to examine functionality and because an imbalance between nitrogen ingestion and excretion has been observed for some of these species, we sequenced nitrogenase genes (nifH) and measured N2 fixation. The prokaryotic communities in the two sponge types did not differ in terms of richness, but the highest diversity was found in HMA sponges. Moreover, the

SUBMITTER: Ribes M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4551227 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature