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

11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table.-- Data Availability Statement: The raw data supporting the conclusion of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

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.

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. T.J.C. was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; M.M. was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2019-108627RB-I00); L.S. was supported by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology; L.P. was supported by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research; T.C.G.B. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the CRC 1182 (“Origin and Function of Metaorganisms”), and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; and U.H. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the CRC 1182 (“Origin and Function of Metaorganisms”), and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF9352).

With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S).

Peer reviewed