Premium
Expression of eukaryotic‐like protein in the microbiome of sponges
Author(s) -
DíezVives C.,
MoitinhoSilva L.,
Nielsen S.,
Reynolds D.,
Thomas T.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14003
Subject(s) - biology , ankyrin repeat , gene , microbiome , sponge , in silico , tetratricopeptide , computational biology , genetics , botany
Abstract Eukaryotic‐like proteins ( ELP s) are classes of proteins that are found in prokaryotes, but have a likely evolutionary origin in eukaryotes. ELP s have been postulated to mediate host–microbiome interactions. Recent work has discovered that prokaryotic symbionts of sponges contain abundant and diverse genes for ELP s, which could modulate interactions with their filter‐feeding and phagocytic host. However, the extent to which these ELP genes are actually used and expressed by the symbionts is poorly understood. Here, we use metatranscriptomics to investigate ELP expression in the microbiomes of three different sponges ( Cymbastella concentrica , Scopalina sp. and Tedania anhelens ). We developed a workflow with optimized rRNA removal and in silico subtraction of host sequences to obtain a reliable symbiont metatranscriptome. This showed that between 1.3% and 2.3% of all symbiont transcripts contain genes for ELP s. Two classes of ELP s (cadherin and tetratricopeptide repeats) were abundantly expressed in the C. concentrica and Scopalina sp. microbiomes, while ankyrin repeat ELP s were predominant in the T. anhelens metatranscriptome. Comparison with transcripts that do not encode ELP s indicated a constitutive expression of ELP s across a range of bacterial and archaeal symbionts. Expressed ELP s also contained domains involved in protein secretion and/or were co‐expressed with proteins involved in extracellular transport. This suggests these ELP s are likely exported, which could allow for direct interaction with the sponge. Our study shows that ELP genes in sponge symbionts represent actively expressed functions that could mediate molecular interaction between symbiosis partners.