Host-specific bacterial communities associated with six cold-seep sponge species in the South China Sea

The cold-seep sponge holobionts are attracting growing attention in recent years. In this study, we utilized 16S rRNA amplicons to characterize the bacterial communities of six deep-sea sponge species found in sponge grounds at the Formosa Ridge cold seep in the South China Sea. Bacterial communities in these geographically proximal sponge species are dominated by Proteobacteria (mainly Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria) but exhibit distinct diversity and compositions among communities. Further analysis revealed that the SUP05 clade (Thioglobaceae) dominated most of the sponge samples. Meanwhile, phylogenetic analysis showed that the six sponge species harbored diverse SUP05 OTU phylotypes, indicating significant divergence within this clade. Additionally, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of the family Methylomonadaceae, another abundant group in these sponges, displayed a significant genetic distance both from each other and from known species. Our findings support the hypothesis of the host-species specificity of sponge-associated bacterial communities, a widely accepted concept in shallow-water and other deep-sea sponges. The presence of dominant functional microbes, such as sulfur- and methanol-oxidizing bacteria, suggests their crucial role as chemosynthetic symbionts in facilitating the niche adaption of sponge hosts to the cold seep ecosystem. In conclusion, our study reveals the diverse and novel bacterial communities in deep-sea sponges from cold seep environments, contributing new knowledge to the host-species specificity of bacterial communities within sponges and highlighting the potential significance of functional microbes in cold seep ecosystems with dynamic energy supplies.

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