MSGID: 1:317/3 649e5a7e   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Sponges and their microbiome: Interacting for millions of years    
      
     Date:   
         June 29, 2023   
     Source:   
         Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita"t Mu"nchen   
     Summary:   
         Researchers demonstrate that sponges react to changes in their   
         microbiome with extensive modifications in gene regulation.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Researchers at LMU demonstrate that sponges react to changes in their   
   microbiome with extensive modifications in gene regulation.   
      
   For a number of years, mounting evidence has shown that the microbiome   
   -- the totality of all microorganisms that inhabit a living being --   
   interacts with its host in various ways and can influence key life   
   processes. Sponges, which rank among the oldest multicellular life forms   
   on Earth, likewise host a diverse array of microbial communities. A   
   new study led by Assistant Professor Sergio Vargas and Professor Gert   
   Wo"rheide from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the   
   GeoBio-Center of the LMU have now discovered molecular mechanisms in the   
   model organism Lendenfeldia chondrodes via which the sponges respond   
   actively to changes in their microbiome. The researchers see their   
   findings as an indication of deep evolutionary origins for phylogenetic   
   interaction between microbiome and host.   
      
   Sponges are organisms with a very simple structure that, in the course   
   of evolution, split off from the rest of the animal kingdom more than   
   600 million years ago. Sponges possess proteins involved in regulating   
   interactions between sponge and microbiome, and those appear to be   
   responsible for the sponges' ability to modify their morphology in   
   response to changes in the microbiome.   
      
   "This suggests that the sponges' ability to interact with the microbiome   
   was an evolutionary early development," Vargas says. "However, there   
   has not yet been sufficient research into the underlying molecular   
   mechanisms." Focusing on the Lendenfeldia chondrodes sponge, which is   
   frequently kept in aquariums, the researchers have now investigated   
   whether and how changes in the composition of the microbiome influence   
   the sponge's gene activity.   
      
   Defective microbiome triggers changes in the sponge Lendenfeldia   
   chondrodes is a sponge species with a microbiome dominated by   
   photosynthetic cyanobacteria. It obtains food by filtering microorganisms   
   out of the water but is also supplied with carbon compounds by its   
   symbionts. The sponges respond to the loss of cyanobacteria -- due to   
   shading, for example - - with significant changes to their morphology:   
   In the present study, initially blue sponges with foliose (leaf-like)   
   growth forms transformed into white, thread-like morphotypes with a   
   markedly different microanatomy.   
      
   Applying transcriptomic methods enabled the scientists to prove for the   
   first time that these changes are accompanied by extensive modifications   
   to gene regulation. "We observed changes in gene activities that are   
   involved in both immune response and development," Vargas notes. "This   
   suggests that sponges can perceive changes in their microbiome and   
   actively respond to them via development processes." The researchers   
   suspect that shaded sponges modify their metabolism to make up for the   
   fact that they receive fewer carbon compounds from their symbionts. "Our   
   findings underscore the importance of the microbiome for the nutrition   
   and development of animals in general and point to a deep evolutionary   
   history shared by animals and their bacterial partners," Vargas says.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Biotechnology # Nature # Evolutionary_Biology #   
                   Microbiology   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Sustainability # Earth_Science # Geology # Geochemistry   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Sponge o Levee_failures_in_Greater_New_Orleans,_2005 o   
             Gene o Computational_genomics o Gene_therapy o Allele o   
             Vector_(biology) o Homeostasis   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita"t_Mu"nchen. Note: Content may be edited   
   for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Sergio Vargas, Laura Leiva, Michael Eitel, Franziska Curdt,   
      Sven Rohde,   
         Christopher Arnold, Michael Nickel, Peter Schupp, William D Orsi,   
         Maja Adamska, Gert Wo"rheide. Body-Plan Reorganization in a Sponge   
         Correlates with Microbiome Change. Molecular Biology and Evolution,   
         2023; 40 (6) DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad138   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629125729.htm   
      
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