Diversity and shifts of the bacterial community associated with Baikal sponge mass mortalities

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 3; p. e0213926
• Main Authors: Belikov, Sergei, Belkova, Natalia, Butina, Tatiana, Chernogor, Lubov, Martynova-Van Kley, Alexandra, Nalian, Armen, Rorex, Colin, Khanaev, Igor, Maikova, Olga, Feranchuk, Sergey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.03.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Algae; Analysis; Animals; Aquaculture; Benthic communities; Biodiversity; Biofilms; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Communities; Consortia; Death; Discoloration; Disease; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Freshwater microorganisms; Gene sequencing; Genes; Genes, Bacterial; Health aspects; Host Microbial Interactions; Laboratories; Lakes; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Microbial activity; Microbiomes; Microbiota - genetics; Microorganisms; Mortality; Necrosis; Pathogenic microorganisms; Photosynthesis; Porifera - microbiology; RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; rRNA 16S; Russia; Signs and symptoms; Sponges; Russia; Lake Baikal; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213926

The disease of freshwater sponges was first discovered in 2011, when pink samples were found in the Central Basin of Lake Baikal. Subsequently, the visible signs of the disease have changed, and now sponges appear with various symptoms of damage to the body, such as discoloration, tissue necrosis, the formation of brown patches and dirty-purple biofilms on some branches. These signs of the disease are accompanied by the mass death of sponges. We identified differences in microbiomes by sequencing 16S rRNA genes and found changes in the consortium of microorganisms of freshwater Baikal sponges. We found that the observed imbalance in the studied microbial communities of diseased sponges is caused by several different conditionally pathogenic microorganisms that increase their negative effect by acting together and in concert, which leads to the death of photosynthetic microalgae and sponges. Sponges are an important component of coastal communities, and the massive loss of sponges can obviously affect the structure of benthic communities and the purity of water.