ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 13 October 2016 doi: 10.3389/fmars.2016.00196 Draft Genomes Shed Light on the Dual Bacterial Symbiosis that Dominates the Microbiome of the Coral Reef Sponge Amphimedon queenslandica Marie-Emilie A. Gauthier, Jabin R. Watson and Sandie M. Degnan * Marine Genomics Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Amphimedon queenslandica is a coral reef demosponge that houses a low complexity and low abundance microbiota dominated by a proteobacterial duo for which draft genomes are presented here. The most prevalent symbiont, AqS1, is a sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacterium closely related to other demosponge symbionts and to free-living Ectothiorhodospiraceae (Chromatiales). The predicted gene repertoire of Edited by: AqS1 indicates that it is capable of sulfur oxidation, carbon monoxide oxidation Ute Hentschel, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean and inorganic phosphate assimilation, and that some of its metabolic capabilities Research Kiel (HZ), Germany may have been acquired via horizontal gene transfer from alphaproteobacteria. The Reviewed by: second most prevalent symbiont, AqS2, is a betaproteobacterium whose closest Gwenael Piganeau, Observatoire Océanologique de known relatives are other demosponge symbionts. AqS1 has characteristic sponge Banyuls-sur-Mer (CNRS), France symbiont features, including a versatile nutrient use with large number of transporters, Laura Steindler, ankyrin-repeat-containing proteins, and a CRISPR system. Based on the size of its University of Haifa, Israel genome assembly, AqS2 is predicted to have a much smaller genome with many fewer *Correspondence: Sandie M. Degnan symbiotic features than AqS1. The smaller is reflected in its more limited metabolic
[email protected] capabilities that include carbohydrate metabolism, but not sulfur oxidation or phosphorus metabolism.