The Cyanobacteria-Dominated Sponge Dactylospongia elegans in the South China Sea: Prokaryotic Community and Metagenomic Insights.

ABSTRACT: The South China Sea is a special reservoir of sponges of which prokaryotic communities are less studied. Here, a new record of the sponge Dactylospongia elegans is reported near the coast of Jinqing Island in the South China Sea, and its prokaryotic community is comprehensively investigated. Sponge specimens displayed lower microbial diversity compared with surrounding seawater. At the phylum level, prokaryotic communities were consistently dominated by Proteobacteria, followed by Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Thaumarchaeota, and Poribacteria. Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) analysis alternatively showed that the most abundant symbiont was the sponge-specific cyanobacterial species "Candidatus Synechococcus spongiarum," followed

SUBMITTER: Gao ZM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5524777 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature