An anaerobic world in sponges
2005 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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- Authors
- Hoffmann, Friederike; Larsen, O.; Thiel, Volker ; Rapp, H. T.; Pape, T.; Michaelis, Walter; Reitner, Joachim
- Abstract
- Associated microorganisms have been described in numerous marine sponges. Their metabolic activity, however, has not yet been investigated in situ. We quantified for the first time microbial processes in a living sponge. Sulfate reduction rates of up to 1200 nmol cm(-3) d(-1) were measured in the cold-water bacteriosponge Geodia barretti. Oxygen profiles and chemical analysis of sponge tissue and canal water revealed steep oxygen gradients and a rapid turnover of oxygen and sulfide, dependent on the pumping activity of the sponge. Identification of the microbial community with fluorescently labelled oligonucleotide probes ( FISH) indicates the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria belonging to the Desulfoarculus/Desulfomonile/Syntrophus-cluster in the choanosome of this sponge. Analysis of lipid biomarkers indicates biomass transfer from associated sulfate-reducing bacteria or other anaerobic microbes to sponge cells. These results show the presence of an anoxic micro-ecosystem in the sponge G. barretti, and imply mutualistic interactions between sponge cells and anaerobic microbes. Understanding the importance of anaerobic processes within the sponge/microbe system may help to answer unsolved questions in sponge ecology and biotechnology.
- Issue Date
- 2005
- Journal
- Geomicrobiology Journal
- ISSN
- 0149-0451