Phenotypic study of bacteria associated with the caribbean sclerosponge, Ceratoporella nicholsoni

Abstract

Heterotrophic bacteria associated with the Caribbean sclerosponge, Ceratoporella nicholsoni (Hickson), were found to occur extracellularly and were confined to the mesohyl regions of the sponge tissue. Physiological, metabolic, and morphological attributes of the culturable bacteria associated with the sponge were recorded by using numerical taxonomy methods for the analysis of 158 phenotypic attributes. Morphometric methods were used to determine the proportion of the total sponge-associated bacteria that were culturable by the methods employed, with the results ranging from 3 to 11% of the total bacteria inhabiting the sponge. Approximately 78% of the culturable bacteria clustered into four groups or phena, representing two previously undescribed Vibrio spp., an Aeromonas sp., and a coryneformor actinomycete-like sp. Most of the bacteria were facultative anaerobes, fermenting sucrose and fucose but unusual in an inability to ferment glucose. This study was the first comprehensive study of heterotrophic bacteria associated with a sponge from the Caribbean basin, a region reputed to contain the most prolific sponge populations, with respect to biomass and diversity. The possible significance of these associations is discussed.

Temporal variation of the microbial community associated with the mediterranean sponge Aplysina aerophoba

“…Sponges are also known to be sometimes associated with large amounts of bacteria that can amount to 40% of the biomass of the sponge [7,8]. Various microorganisms have evolved to reside in sponges, including cyanobacteria [9], diverse heterotrophic bacteria [10,11], unicellular algae [12,13] and zoochlorellae [14]. Since sponges are ¢lter feeders, a certain amount of transient bacteria are trapped within the vascular system or attached to the sponge surface.…”

Heterogeneous oxygenation resulting from active and passive flow in two Mediterranean sponges, Dysida avara and Chondrosia reniformis

“…However, nitrate reducers and many sulfate reducers can also be active at low oxygen concentrations (Canfield and Marais 1991). Facultative and obligate anaerobic microbes have been found in several species of sponges, suggesting the presence of anoxic and oxygen-depleted microniches within sponges; fermenting bacteria were found in Ceratoporella nicholsoni (Santavy et al 1990), sulfate-reducing bacteria in tetractinellid sponges (Schumann-Kindel et al 1997), and anammox and denitrifying bacteria in G. barretti (Hoffmann et al 2009); methanogenic euryarchaeotes may also be present in sponges (Webster et al 2001).…”

Membrane-bounded nucleoids in microbial symbionts of marine sponges

“…Bacteria‐like symbionts are associated with a variety of sponge species [17, 18], and some form of internal membrane‐bounded compartmentation may occur in bacterial symbionts of some of these sponge genera [18–20]. Such compartmentation has in past studies been interpreted as due to exceptionally large periplasm for a Gram‐negative cell [18, 20].…”