Marine Sponge: Sponge-Bacteria Association

Marine Sponges Niche

Overview of Marine Sponges

Marine sponges are natural bath sponges (with living cells removed) that we all are familiar with. They actually are the oldest and simplest animals that have been living on earth for millions of years. There are various types of sponges under Phylum PORIFERA. They grow in every ocean in the world regardless of extreme temperatures. They can be found hundreds of meters under sea level but mostly are found in 5-50 meters deep. Marine sponges are filter-feeding animals because all adult sponges are sessile and can’t move around benthic surface. For approximately 20 centimeters sponge can filter up to 2000 liters of seawater during one day. “As filter feeders, sponges efficiently take up nutrients like organic particles and microorganisms from the seawater, leaving the expelled water essentially sterile.” (3) Marine sponges have no true tissues or organs, just constructed with layers of cells even without nervous system. Inside the sponge, the vibration of ciliates, the special cells circulate seawater through small pores and absorb planktons and small sea organisms. (1)

Marine sponges come in different but striking colors, bright red, purple, yellow, and brown, etc. These colors and some are toxic as well may help them defend from sponge eating invertebrates and some fishes. Some other small marine organisms, fishes, and microscopic organisms often call marine sponges their homes. Sponges often have skeleton of spicules, which protect and give refuge to small invertebrates from other marine scavengers. (2)

Living Conditions/Locations

K. Variolosa are found in deep sea of the isolated Antarctic continent, where Antarctic Circumpolar Current. It is a rare type of sponge found only in 0.02% of benthic surface at Cape Armitage1 site but can be seen typically in other areas as deep as 100-700 meters. (9) Beyond living in the deep sea, K. Variolosa withstand high pressure and freezing temperature below 0 degree Celsius. The sea temperature may vary from -2 to 10 degree Celsius.

Adjacent Communities

The community of K. Variolosa includes spongivorous sea stars, “other sessile and sluggish marine invertebrates, and a sponge feeding nudibranch. However, the main predators of K. Variolosa being the sea stars Perknaster fuscus and Acodontaster conspicus. (10) As a predator-prey interaction, sea stars eat larvae of sponges in order to prevent biomass of sponges on benthic surface. However, as a rare species, K. Variolosa had invented toxin to defend itself from chewing up by the omnivorous sea stars.

No matter how powerful its toxin is, K. Variolosa is beyond help when natural disaster and abiotic factors hit its community. Humongous iceberg and anchor ice can scour the entire community of K. Variolosa. Unpredictable currents and various types of sedimentation also determine the habitat of K. Variolosa. (10)

Microbes

Diversity

Either biofilm or planktonic form of a gram-negative proteobacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known to colonize the surfaces of K. Variolosa. Although this bacteria is opportunistic pathogen to human diseases such as urinary infection, respiratory system infections, dermatitis, bone and joint infections, and gastrointestinal infections, it is symbiotically good for K. Variolosa. (11) P. Aeruginosa produces antibiotic compounds such as diketopiperazines and two other phenazine alkaloid antibiotics. These antibiotics inhibit the growth of several gram-positive microorganisms. (12) This bacteria in turn have known to receive acetate and other carbon sources as nutritions from K.Variolosa.

Sponge-Microbe Association

Another mutualistic organism lives within K. Variolosa is diatoms. The outer coverings of diatoms are made up of silica. K. Variolosa absorb and digest silica for its spicules and in return provides shelter for diatoms from other predators.

Pathogens/Parasites

Some of the deleterious effects of microbes on sponges may be direct(parasitism and pathogenesis) or indirect(surface fouling promoted by biofilm). As an example of a pathogenic effect of microbe, alphaproteobacterium was studied from an infected individual of the Great Barrier Reef sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile (16) was shown to infect and kill healthy sponge tissues. The mechanism used by the pathogen was to degradade collagenous spongin fibers, with almost the entire sponge surface subject to tissue necrosis. This pathogenesis occured not only in marine sponges, but also corals and other epibenthic organisms in 1999 when these organisms experienced massive mortalities(17). This outbreak of the disease coincided with rise in water temperature around the region, suggesting that protozoan and fungi also were involved. Other reports of diseases in sponges include the Aplysina red band syndrome, cyanobacterial overgrowth of Geodia papyracea, and repeated observations of diseased sponges on a Panamanian coral reef.

Parasitism of sponges by diatoms were found in several Antarctic species. Degradation of sponge internal tissue occured in areas of dense diatom aggregations. The diatoms in "S. joubini" appeared to enter the host either through the ostia (inhalant openings) or via active incorporation by the sponge pinacoderm(dermal membrane). Reseason why sponges incorporate these potentially harmful diatoms is not yet clarified. A plausible explanation is that sponges consume diatoms as a food source.

Some of the non-harmful bacteria can also harm the sponge in an indirect-manner. Microbes form colonies on the surface of the sponge by microbial fouling. This fouling can act as a precursor to colonization of macrofouling organisms, such as, invertebrates and macroalgae, which can potentially affect sponge's nutrition intake by blocking the feeding channel or cause dislodgement of the sponge from the substratum by increasing the hydrodynamic drag.

Interactions with Other Organisms

K. Variolosa, a sponge, is a filter feeding animal and basically immobile. They generally rely on cyanobacteria, autotrophs, which synthesize complex carbon compound using light energy. When there are long days without sun light in South pole Antarctica, the sponge has to rely on filtering any type of organic debris passed by. It is also observed that some other sponge family has evolved into heterotrophy and developed to move other places to feed.

Type of Sponges

Genus: Aplysina

Species Aplysina archeri from Karsten Zengler

1. Location: Caribbean and Mediterranean; shallow rocky substrates exposed to light (1-20m depth)
2. Characteristics/Physical conditions:

- usually sulfur-yellow in color but can be tinged toward green or red

- sponge fibers made up of laminated,golden-bark and a granular, dark pith

- can protect large number of bacteria that can take up to 40% of its mass

- alternate between high water-pumping speed and low water circulation phase

- produce brominated aromatic mebolites such as bormoindoles, bromophenol(BP), polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and dibromodibenzo p-dioxins (can serve as a chemical defense against predators and biofouling)

Genus: Xestospongia

Species Xestospongia muta from Karsten Zengler

1. Location: reef environments of Florida and the Caribbean
2. Characteristics/Physical conditions:

- lamellate barrel- or volcano-shaped sponge

- salmon to purple (presence of cyanobacterial symbionts in the ectosome)

- produce different kinds of straight-chain actylenic compounds, which have antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties

Genus: Acanthella

Species Acanthella pulchra (Orange Elephant Ear) from Karsten Zengler

1. Location: Caribbean and Australia
2. Characteristics/Physical conditions:

- color is usually red, orange, or yellow (15)

- should never exposed to the air because it will block the pathway for planktonic to reach its cells (15)

- filter feeder (require daily feedings of plankton substitutes and dissolved organic foods (15)

- can be characterized by the presence of terpene metabolites (18)

Species Halisarca from Karsten Zengler

Current Research

1. ITS-2 and 18S rRNA Gene Phylogeny of Aplysinidae (Verongida,Demospngiae), 2004

In order to identify the genus-level for sponges(Porifera) taxonomy, the researchers have been using their characteristics such as spicules and sponging fibers. However, it became noticeable that having a precise taxonomical classification of the Porifera was difficult especially if sponges were being identify only by using their morphological features. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate if there is any other way to have a get a clear genus-level of different sponges. It revealed that matching up 18S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2) full length sequences to certain marine sponge sequence can be used to build phylogenetic trees to arrange based on secondary structure. For this experiment, different sponges were analyzed such as eleven Aplysina sponges and three additional sponges (Cerongula gigantean, Aiolochroia crassa, Smenospongia aurea) from different location such as tropical and sub-tropical oceans. The results concluded that Aplysinais from a single common ancestor and stands at a basal position in both 18S and ITS-2 trees. The problem with this method is that the molecular data come out differently from the current taxonomy that was structured based on morphological characteristics. Therefore, the future research is to reevaluate the sponges as more 18S sequences become available. (7)

2. Biodegradation, 2003

Halogenated compounds are one of the biggest environmental pollutants on earth. In order to degrade these harmful bio-reactive materials, naturally occurring biodegradable compounds are needed. Marine sponges naturally produce brominated organic compounds for chemical defense against predators and biofouling. A bright yellow sponge family, Aplysina aerophoba constitutes 7-12% of bromine-containing metabolites in its dry weight. (4) They are abundantly found in subtropical and tropical waters of the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The major secondary metabolites of this sponge are bromophenolic metabolites derived from dibromotyrosine. Interestingly, A. aerophoba is also a host to diverse microorganisms, which constitute 40% of its biomass. While the brominated compounds released by A. aerophoba are harmful to others but not to these microbial community is an inspired research for scientists.

The scientists are working on sponge-associated microorganisms that might have the ability to dehalogenate and degrade brominated compounds. They have isolated “a conserved reductive dehalogenase gene motif in the dehalorespiring bacteria D. ethenogenes, Dehalospirillum multivorans, and Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans.” (4) These dehalogenating bacteria debrominate the brominated compounds by anaerobic reductive activities. They are anaerobic because “most sponges alternate between periods of high water-pumping velocity and periods of low water circulation. It is possible that oxygen becomes limited during periods of low water circulation because of active respiration by the large number of bacteria present in the mesohyl, sponge’s gut.” (4) The diversity of genes motifs isolated from these bacteria is valuable for environmental biodegrading. Therefore, marine sponges along with dehalogenating bacteria serve as cues for scientific community to explore more about marine sponge and its valuable natural biodegrading compounds.

3. Vertical Transmission, 2007

Marine sponges are hosts to plenty of microbial organisms in their inner lining, mesohyl. These micro bacteria are sponge-specific and have been passed on generations after generations. In addition, microbial biomass in marine sponges contributes up to 40% to 60% of sponge’s biomass. (3) “No other animal phylum tolerates such amounts of internal, freely dispersed microorganisms.” (3) Since marine sponges do not have physical barriers, such as tissues or organs, different types of microorganisms living within the marine sponge are important to study “cospeciation” between the host and many symbiotic lineages. In ball-shaped sponge, Ircinia felix, vertical transmission of microorganisms were observed in larvae form of the sponge. Vertical transmission is “a passage of microbial symbionts to the next host generation through the reproductive cell lines.” (3)

In I. felix, vertically transmitted phylotypes are “defined as monophyletic clusters of two or more sequences that were recovered from both the adult sponge and offspring. Altogether, 13 monophyletic sequence clusters were identified, which belonged to four different bacterial phyla and one additional lineage of uncertain affiliation.” (3) Interestingly, the scientists found out that the vertical transmission of bacterial community in adult I. felix was similar to those well-studied symbionts of sponge-associated bacteria such as Proteobacteria (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria), Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Cyanobacteria. However, it is still a wonder and extremely complex for scientific community to find out how this “unique and apparently stable sponge-microbe associations are established and maintained over time.” (3) If we can find out the clues, we will another way to hypothesize how life originated on earth.

4. Anti-Cancer Drugs

This colorful bright red sponge has known to produce anti-cancer drugs. The rare coloration of this sponge is not only to camouflage itself from predators and defending itself by showing off its angry-looking color, the pigment is useful in human medicine. Pigments from the colored sponges are bioactive and cause sea star tube-foot retraction. A anti-cancer drug, a compound Variolin-B (VAR-B), is isolated and “prevents the cancer cells from entering S-phase, blocking cells in G1 and cause an accumulation of cells in G2. It inhibits CDKs and induces apoptosis. This drug is also useful for anti-tumor and antiviral activity. (13)

References

(1) www.zitak.hr/sponge.htm

(2) http://www.earthlife.net/inverts/porifera.html

(3) http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=17277226

(4) Ahn, Young-Beom, Sung-Keun Rhee, Donna E. Fennell, Lee J. Kerkhof, Ute Hentschel, and Max M. Haggblom. "Reductive Dehalogenation of Brominated Phenolic Compounds by Microorganisms Associated with the Marine Sponge Aplysina aerophoba." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69.7 (2003): 4159-4166

(5)Fieseler, Lars, Matthias Horn, Michael Wagner, and Ute Hentschel. "Discovery of the Novel Candidate Phylum "Poribacteria" in Marine Sponges." Applied and Environmental Micobiology 70.6 (2004): 3724-3732.

(6) Schmitt, Susanne, Jeremy B. Weiz, Niels Lindquist, and Ute Hentschel. "Vertical Transmission of a Phylogenetically Complex Microbial Consortium in the Viviparous Sponge Ircinia felix." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73.7 (2007): 2067-2078

(7) Schmitt, Susanne, Ute Hentschel, Steven Zea, Thomas Dandekar, and Matthias Wolf. "ITS-2 and 18S rRNA Gene Phylogeny of Aplysinidae (Verongida, Demospongiae)." J Molecular Evolution 60 (2004):327-336.

(8) Taylor, Michael W., Russell T Hill, Jorn Piel, Robert W Thacker, and Ute Hentschel. "Soaking it up: the complex lives of marine sponges and their microbial associates." The ISME Jornal 1.3 (2007):187-190.

(9) http://www.peterbrueggeman.com/nsf/fguide/porifera21.html

(10) http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/2/359#SEC6

(11) http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/pseudomonas.html

(12) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8882433?ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

(13) http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0959804905006015

(14) Primary culture marine sponge Xestospongia muta

(15)http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1907&articleid=2172

(16)Webster, N. S., A. P. Negri, R. I. Webb, and R. T. Hill. 2002. A spongin-boring alpha proteobacterium is the etiological agent of disease in the Great Barrier Reef sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.232:305–309

(17)Cerrano, C., G. Bavestrello, C. N. Bianchi, R. Cattaneo-Vietti, S. Bava, C. Morganti, C. Morri, P. Picco, G. Sara, S. Schiaparelli, A. Siccardi, and F. Sponga. 2000. A catastrophic mass-mortality episode of gorgonians and other organisms in the Ligurian Sea (north-western Mediterranean), summer 1999. Ecol. Lett. 3:284–293.

(18) richard J Clark..new isocyano