O'Brien, Paul A., Robbins, Steven J., Tan, Shangjin, Rix, Laura, Miller, David J., Webster, Nicole S., Zhang, Guojie, and Bourne, David G. (2024) Comparative genomics identifies key adaptive traits of sponge‐associated microbial symbionts. Environmental Microbiology, 26 (9). e16690.

Preview

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (19MB) | Preview

Abstract

Sponge microbiomes are often highly diverse making it difficult to determine which lineages are important for maintaining host health and homeostasis. Characterising genomic traits associated with symbiosis can improve our knowledge of which lineages have adapted to their host and what functions they might provide. Here we examined five microbial families associated with sponges that have previously shown evidence of cophylogeny, including Endozoicomonadaceae, Nitrosopumilaceae, Spirochaetaceae, Microtrichaceae and Thermoanaerobaculaceae, to better understand the mechanisms behind their symbiosis. We compared sponge-associated genomes to genomes found in other environments and found that sponge-specific clades were enriched in genes encoding many known mechanisms for symbiont survival, such as avoiding phagocytosis and defence against foreign genetic elements. We expand on previous knowledge to show that glycosyl hydrolases with sulfatases and sulfotransferases likely form multienzyme degradation pathways to break and remodel sulfated polysaccharides and reveal an enrichment in superoxide dismutase that may prevent damage from free oxygen radicals produced by the host. Finally, we identified novel traits in sponge-associated symbionts, such as urea metabolism in Spirochaetaceae which was previously shown to be rare in the phylum Spirochaetota. These results identify putative mechanisms by which symbionts have adapted to living in association with sponges.

Item ID:	85501
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1462-2920
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2024 Commonwealth of Australia and The Author(s). Environmental Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Date Deposited:	15 May 2025 01:15
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3107 Microbiology > 310704 Microbial genetics @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100%
	More Statistics