Project description:Marine sponges are essential for coral reefs to thrive and harbour a diverse microbiome that is thought to contribute to host health. Although the overall function of sponge symbionts has been increasingly described, in-depth characterisation of each taxa remains challenging, with many sponge species hosting up to 3,000 distinct microbial species. Recently, the sponge Ianthella basta has emerged as a model organism for symbiosis research, hosting only three dominant symbionts: a Thaumarchaeotum, a Gammaproteobacterium, and an Alphaproteobacterium and a range of other minor taxa. Here, we retrieved metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) for >90% of I. basta’s microbial community which allowed us to make a complete metabolic reconstruction of the sponge’s microbiome, identifying metabolic complementarity between microbes, as well as the importance of symbionts present in low abundance. We also mined the metagenomes for putative viral sequences, highlighting the contribution of viruses to the overall metabolism of the sponge, and complement this data with metaproteomic sequencing to identify active metabolic pathways in both prokaryotes and viruses. This data now allows us to use I. basta as a model organism for studying host-microbe interactions and provides a basis for future (genomic) manipulative experiments.
Project description:The goal of this study was to use heterologous microarray hybridization to determine genomic content shared among different vesicomyid symbionts. These symbionts are closely related and can be thought of as different strains of bacteria, facilitating the use of heterologous microarray hybridization to determine genomic content. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization Microarrays were built off the Ruthia magnifica genome and two replicate hybridizations to this organism were used as a baseline for comparisons. Genomic DNA from two other vesicomyid symbionts (Calyptogena kilmeri and C. pacifica symbionts) was also hybridized to the array with three biological replicates for each sample.
Project description:The goal of this study was to use heterologous microarray hybridization to determine genomic content shared among different vesicomyid symbionts. These symbionts are closely related and can be thought of as different strains of bacteria, facilitating the use of heterologous microarray hybridization to determine genomic content. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization
Project description:<p>Seawater dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a large reservoir of carbon composed of a complex and poorly characterized mixture of molecules. Sponges have long been known to consume dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from this mixture, but the role of microbial sponge symbionts in this process is complex, and the molecules involved remain largely unknown. In order to better understand how sponge processing changes seawater DOM, we used untargeted metabolomics to characterize DOM in samples of incurrent and excurrent seawater taken from sponges on the fore-reef off Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, over 2 years. We collected samples from three sponge species each with either high or low microbial abundance (HMA, LMA) to explore the relationship between symbiont abundance and DOM alterations. Analyses revealed that sponges took up metabolites and changed the composition of seawater DOM, but only for the three HMA species, and none of the LMA species, implicating microbial symbionts in this uptake. Using a new mass spectra classification tool, we found that putative compositions of features depleted in the excurrent samples of HMA sponges were similar in both years and were dominated by organic acids and derivatives (74%) and organic nitrogen compounds (19%). Interestingly, HMA sponges also took up halogenated compounds (containing chlorine or bromine), providing evidence of a previously unknown mechanism of halide cycling. The metabolites taken up by HMA sponges may be used as a food source or as building blocks of chemical defenses, selective advantages that may have guided the evolution of microbial symbioses in sponges.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>2019 collection assay</strong> is reported in the current study <strong>MTBLS2200</strong></p><p><strong>2018 collection assay</strong> is reported in <a href='https://www.ebi.ac.uk/metabolights/MTBLS2199' rel='noopener noreferrer' target='_blank'><strong>MTBLS2199</strong></a></p>
Project description:<p>Seawater dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a large reservoir of carbon composed of a complex and poorly characterized mixture of molecules. Sponges have long been known to consume dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from this mixture, but the role of microbial sponge symbionts in this process is complex, and the molecules involved remain largely unknown. In order to better understand how sponge processing changes seawater DOM, we used untargeted metabolomics to characterize DOM in samples of incurrent and excurrent seawater taken from sponges on the fore-reef off Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, over 2 years. We collected samples from three sponge species each with either high or low microbial abundance (HMA, LMA) to explore the relationship between symbiont abundance and DOM alterations. Analyses revealed that sponges took up metabolites and changed the composition of seawater DOM, but only for the three HMA species, and none of the LMA species, implicating microbial symbionts in this uptake. Using a new mass spectra classification tool, we found that putative compositions of features depleted in the excurrent samples of HMA sponges were similar in both years and were dominated by organic acids and derivatives (74%) and organic nitrogen compounds (19%). Interestingly, HMA sponges also took up halogenated compounds (containing chlorine or bromine), providing evidence of a previously unknown mechanism of halide cycling. The metabolites taken up by HMA sponges may be used as a food source or as building blocks of chemical defenses, selective advantages that may have guided the evolution of microbial symbioses in sponges.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>2018 collection assay</strong> is reported in the current study <strong>MTBLS2199</strong></p><p><strong>2019 collection assay</strong> is reported in <a href='https://www.ebi.ac.uk/metabolights/MTBLS2200' rel='noopener noreferrer' target='_blank'><strong>MTBLS2200</strong></a></p>
Project description:miRNA sponge, a special class of miRNA target, has been emerging as a pivotal player in miRNA mediated regulatory network. Currently, the identified miRNA sponge genes mostly act on sequestering conserved miRNAs (e.g. miR-7, miR-145), however, the existence, potential function and evolutionary process of miRNA sponge genes for species-specific miRNA, especially for human specific miRNA, are largely unknown. In this study, we conducted a systematic analysis including sponge gene identification and subsequent function and evolutionary analyses for an authentic human-specific miRNA, miR-941.