Symbiont transmission in marine sponges: reproduction, development, and metamorphosis.

Tyler J Carrier, Manuel Maldonado, Lara Schmittmann, Lucía Pita, Thomas C G Bosch, Ute Hentschel

BMC biology 2022 May 06

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Marine sponges (phylum Porifera) form symbioses with diverse microbial communities that can be transmitted between generations through their developmental stages. Here, we integrate embryology and microbiology to review how symbiotic microorganisms are transmitted in this early-diverging lineage. We describe that vertical transmission is widespread but not universal, that microbes are vertically transmitted during a select developmental window, and that properties of the developmental microbiome depends on whether a species is a high or low microbial abundance sponge. Reproduction, development, and symbiosis are thus deeply rooted, but why these partnerships form remains the central and elusive tenet of these developmental symbioses. © 2022. The Author(s).

Citation

Tyler J Carrier, Manuel Maldonado, Lara Schmittmann, Lucía Pita, Thomas C G Bosch, Ute Hentschel. Symbiont transmission in marine sponges: reproduction, development, and metamorphosis. BMC biology. 2022 May 06;20(1):100