New phylogenetic lineages of the Spirochaetes phylum associated with Clathrina species (Porifera)

• Published in: The journal of microbiology Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 411 - 418
• Main Authors: Neulinger, Sven C., Stöhr, Rüdiger, Thiel, Vera, Schmaljohann, Rolf, Imhoff, Johannes F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg The Microbiological Society of Korea 01-08-2010; Springer Nature B.V; 한국미생물학회
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacteria - ultrastructure; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Borrelia; Clathrina; Clathrina clathrus; Cloning; Coastal waters; Cristispira; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Ethanol; Habitus; Harbors; Invertebrates; Life Sciences; Marine; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Natural products; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Porifera; Porifera - microbiology; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Scanning electron microscopy; Seawater; Spirochaetaceae; 생물학; Adriatic Sea; Germany; Croatia; Sulawesi; Indonesia; MED, Croatia, Istra Peninsula, Rovinj; MED, Adriatic Sea; 16S rRNA gene analysis; CARD-FISH; sponge-associated bacteria
• ISSN: 1225-8873; 1976-3794
• DOI: 10.1007/s12275-010-0017-x

Though spirochetes have been repeatedly found in marine sponges and other invertebrates, little attention has been paid to the specificity of this association. This study demonstrates that different genoand morphotypes of spirochetes can reside within the same sponge individual and develop in considerable numbers. Specimens of the calcareous sponge
Clathrina clathrus
collected from the Adriatic Sea off Rovinj (Croatia) were found to harbor spirochete-like bacteria, which were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), 16S rRNA gene analysis, and catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence
in situ
hybridization (CARD-FISH). Two novel spirochete sequence types related to the
Brachyspiraceae
could be retrieved. By use of specifically designed CARD-FISH probes, the
C. clathrus
-associated sequences could be assigned to a linear and a helical spirochete morphotype. Both were located within the sponge mesohyl and resembled the spirochete-like cells identified by SEM. In addition, from a
Clathrina
sp., most likely
C. coriacea
, that originated from Indonesian coastal waters, four different spirochete type sequences were recovered. Two of these also affiliated with the
Brachyspiraceae
, the other two were found associated with the
Spirochaetaceae
, one with the genera
Borrelia
and
Cristispira
.