Taxonomic, functional and expression analysis of viral communities associated with marine sponges

Mary Nguyen; Bernd Wemheuer; Patrick W Laffy; Nicole S Webster; Torsten Thomas

doi:10.7717/peerj.10715

Taxonomic, functional and expression analysis of viral communities associated with marine sponges

PeerJ. 2021 Feb 2:9:e10715. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10715. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mary Nguyen¹, Bernd Wemheuer¹, Patrick W Laffy², Nicole S Webster^{2

3}, Torsten Thomas¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Marine Science and Innovation & School of Biological & Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
³ Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Viruses play an essential role in shaping the structure and function of ecological communities. Marine sponges have the capacity to filter large volumes of 'virus-laden' seawater through their bodies and host dense communities of microbial symbionts, which are likely accessible to viral infection. However, despite the potential of sponges and their symbionts to act as viral reservoirs, little is known about the sponge-associated virome. Here we address this knowledge gap by analysing metagenomic and (meta-) transcriptomic datasets from several sponge species to determine what viruses are present and elucidate their predicted and expressed functionality. Sponges were found to carry diverse, abundant and active bacteriophages as well as eukaryotic viruses belonging to the Megavirales and Phycodnaviridae. These viruses contain and express auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) for photosynthesis and vitamin synthesis as well as for the production of antimicrobials and the defence against toxins. These viral AMGs can therefore contribute to the metabolic capacities of their hosts and also potentially enhance the survival of infected cells. This suggest that viruses may play a key role in regulating the abundance and activities of members of the sponge holobiont.

Keywords: Auxiliary metabolic genes; Diversity; Sponge; Virus.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funds provided by the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation and the Australian Research Council to Torsten Thomas and an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT120100480) to Nicole Webster. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.