The Microbial Landscape of Sea Stars and the Anatomical and Interspecies Variability of Their Microbiome

Frontiers in Microbiology
Elliot W JacksonIan Hewson

Abstract

Sea stars are among the most important predators in benthic ecosystems worldwide which is partly attributed to their unique gastrointestinal features and feeding behaviors. Despite their ecological importance, the microbiome of these animals and its influence on adult host health and development largely remains unknown. To begin to understand such interactions we sought to understand what bacteria are associated with these animals, how the microbiome is partitioned across regions of the body and how seawater influences their microbiome. We analyzed the microbiome composition of a geographically and taxonomically diverse set of sea star taxa by using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and compared microorganisms associated with different regions of their body and to their local environment. In addition, we estimated the bacterial and coelomocyte abundance in the sea star coelomic fluid and bacterioplankton abundance in the surrounding seawater via epifluorescence microscopy. The average bacterial cell abundance observed in the coelomic fluid was one to two orders of magnitude lower than the bacterioplankton abundance in the surrounding seawater suggesting a selection against the presence of microorganisms in the coelomic fluid. T...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 19, 2020·Molecular Ecology·Dannise V Ruiz-RamosMichael N Dawson
Aug 15, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Alexander ZieglerBruno Pernet
Oct 6, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Cushla McGoverinFrédérique Vanholsbeeck
Mar 19, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Guillaume SchwobJulieta Orlando

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA383901

Methods Mentioned

BETA
amplicon sequencing
PCR

Software Mentioned

UCLUST
DADA2
phyloseq R package
vegan R package
Unifrac
LEfSe

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