Research and Publications - Department of Biological Sciences

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Browsing Research and Publications - Department of Biological Sciences by Author "Ackermann, Gail"

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    Diversity, structure and convergent evolution of the global sponge microbiome
    (Nature Portfolio, 2016) Thomas, Torsten; Moitinho-Silva, Lucas; Lurgi, Miguel; Bjoerk, Johannes R.; Easson, Cole; Astudillo-Garcia, Carmen; Olson, Julie B.; Erwin, Patrick M.; Lopez-Legentil, Susanna; Luter, Heidi; Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia; Costa, Rodrigo; Schupp, Peter J.; Steindler, Laura; Erpenbeck, Dirk; Gilbert, Jack; Knight, Rob; Ackermann, Gail; Lopez, Jose Victor; Taylor, Michael W.; Thacker, Robert W.; Montoya, Jose M.; Hentschel, Ute; Webster, Nicole S.; University of New South Wales Sydney; University of Adelaide; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); CSIC - Centro Mediterraneo de Investigaciones Marinas y Ambientales (CMIMA); CSIC - Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM); University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; University of Auckland; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Wilmington; Charles Darwin University; Nova Southeastern University; Universidade do Algarve; Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg; University of Haifa; University of Munich; University of Chicago; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Argonne National Laboratory; University of California San Diego; State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook; Helmholtz Association; GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel; Australian Institute of Marine Science
    Sponges (phylum Porifera) are early-diverging metazoa renowned for establishing complex microbial symbioses. Here we present a global Porifera microbiome survey, set out to establish the ecological and evolutionary drivers of these host-microbe interactions. We show that sponges are a reservoir of exceptional microbial diversity and major contributors to the total microbial diversity of the world's oceans. Little commonality in species composition or structure is evident across the phylum, although symbiont communities are characterized by specialists and generalists rather than opportunists. Core sponge microbiomes are stable and characterized by generalist symbionts exhibiting amensal and/or commensal interactions. Symbionts that are phylogenetically unique to sponges do not disproportionally contribute to the core microbiome, and host phylogeny impacts complexity rather than composition of the symbiont community. Our findings support a model of independent assembly and evolution in symbiont communities across the entire host phylum, with convergent forces resulting in analogous community organization and interactions.