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Bacterial diversity associated with a newly described bioeroding sponge, Cliona thomasi, from the coral reefs on the West Coast of India

Abstract

The bacterial diversity associated with eroding sponges belonging to the Cliona viridis species complex is scarcely known. Cliona thomasi described from the West Coast of India is a new introduction to the viridis species complex. In this study, we determined the bacterial diversity associated with C. thomasi using next-generation sequencing. The results revealed the dominance of Proteobacteria followed by Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Among Proteobacteria, the Alphaproteobacteria were found to be the most dominant class. Furthermore, at the genus level, Rhodothalassium were highly abundant followed by Endozoicomonas in sponge samples. The beta-diversity and species richness measures showed remarkably lower diversity in Cliona thomasi than the ambient environment. The determined lower bacterial diversity in C. thomasi than the environmental samples, thus, categorized it as a low microbial abundance (LMA). Functional annotation of the C. thomasi–associated bacterial community indicates their possible role in photo-autotrophy, aerobic nitrification, coupling of sulphate reduction and sulphide oxidization. The present study unveils the bacterial diversity in bioeroding C. thomasi, which is a crucial step to determine the functions of the sponge holobiont in coral reef ecosystem.

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Data availability

Accession numbers of nucleotide sequences submitted to NCBI are coded as follows: SRA submission SUB7245986, submission ID PRJNA623169 and Bio project PRJN623169.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Dr. Christine H. L. Schönberg (University of Western Australia) for her valuable suggestions. Authors thank Dr. Kuldeep More for his kind support in nMDS and alpha diveristy indices analysis. This study forms part of the Ph.D. thesis of SM. SM and KD acknowledge the CSIR SRF and DST INSPIRE fellowships, respectively. All necessary permissions for sampling and field observation have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities.

Funding

This study was financially support received by the Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission, Government of Maharashtra, India, under the Maharastra Gene Bank project (GAP2871).

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Correspondence to Vishal Gupta or Baban Ingole.

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All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

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All necessary permits for sampling and field observation have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities.

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Mote, S., Gupta, V., De, K. et al. Bacterial diversity associated with a newly described bioeroding sponge, Cliona thomasi, from the coral reefs on the West Coast of India. Folia Microbiol 66, 203–211 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-020-00830-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-020-00830-4