The deep-sea is the largest, but also the most understudied ecosystem on our planet. At the same time, it is already in need of protection from anthropogenic stressors. We engage in extensive field work to collect specimens from different sponge ground ecosystems in the North Atlantic, but also Southern Oceans. Samples are analyzed for microbial diversity and function by amplicon sequencing, meta-omics, and microscopy. Owing to the ASG effort () several genomes of deep-sea sponges and their microbial symbiont consortia have been assembled, including those of elusive glass sponges, and dozens more are in the sequencing pipeline. We correlate selected biogeochemical parameters of the collection sites with sponge microbiome composition to infer to what extent the ecosystem influences microbial community composition and vice versa, how sponge symbionts affect the biogeochemical cycling of key nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous in the deep sea . In this Pan-Atlantic effort, our molecular analyses (Dr. Beate Slaby) will reveal microbial adaptation to a lifestyle within sponges and contribute to an improved understanding of ecological processes and pathways in understudied deep-sea sponge habitats.
Dr. Beate Slaby & Dr. Kathrin Busch
Dr. Beate Slaby, Dr. Kristina Bayer, , Franziska Theising, Ieva Caraite
Stratmann T, Busch K, de Kluijver A, Kelly M, Mills S, Rossel S, Schupp PJ (2024) Nutrient fluxes, oxygen consumption and fatty acid composition from deep-water demo- and hexactinellid sponges from New Zealand. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 2024, 104416, ISSN 0967-0637,
Wurz E, Brekke Olsen LM, Busch K, Ulvatn T, Rapp HT, Osinga R, Murk AJ (2024) Adverse effects of crushed seafloor massive sulphide deposits on the boreal deep-sea sponge Geodia barretti Bowerbank, 1858 and its associated fauna. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, Volume 208, 2024, 104311, ISSN 0967-0637,
Stenvers V, Hauss H, Bayer T, Havermans C, Hentschel U, Schmittmann L, Sweetman A, Hoving HJ (2023) Experimental mining plumes and ocean warming trigger stress in a deep pelagic jellyfish. Nat Comm 14(1), 7352.
Morganti TM, Slaby BM, de Kluijver A, Busch K, Hentschel U, Middelburg J, Grotheer H, Mollenhauer G, Dannheim J, Rapp HT, Purser A, Boetius A (2022) Giant sponge grounds of Central Arctic seamounts are associated with extinct seep life (Langseth Ridge, 87掳N, 61掳E). Nat Commun 13(1):638. doi:
Busch K, Slaby BM, Bach W, Boetius A, Clefsen I, Cola莽o A, Creemers M, Cristobo J, Federwisch L, Franke A, Gavriilidou A, Hethke A, Kenchington E, Mienis F, Mills S, Riesgo A, R铆os P, Roberts EM, Sipkema D, Pita L, Schupp PJ, Xavier J, Rapp HT & Hentschel U (2022) Biodiversity, environmental drivers, and sustainability of the global deep-sea sponge microbiome. Nat Commun 13, 5160.
Maldonado M, L贸pez-Acosta M, Busch K, Slaby BM, Bayer K, Beazley L, Hentschel U, Kenchington E and Rapp HT (2021). A Microbial Nitrogen Engine Modulated by Bacteriosyncytia in Hexactinellid Sponges: Ecological Implications for Deep-Sea Communities. Front. Mar. Sci. |
Bayer K, Busch K, Kenchington E, Beazley L, Franzenburg S, Michels J, Hentschel U, Slaby BM (2020) Microbial strategies for survival in the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii. mSystems00473-20. DOI:
Busch K, Beazley L, Kenchington E, Whoriskey F, Slaby B, Hentschel U (2020) Microbial diversity of the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii in response to anthropogenic activities. Conservation Genetics, 21. pp. 1001-1010. DOI .
Busch K, Hanz U, Mienis F, M眉ller B, Franke A, Roberts EM, Rapp HT, Hentschel U (2020) On giant shoulders: How a seamount affects the microbial community composition of seawater and sponges. Biogeosciences: doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-15
Steinert G, Busch K, Bayer K, Kodami S, Martinez Arbizu P, Kelly M, Mills S, Erpenbeck D, Dohrmann M, W枚rheide G, Hentschel U, Peter J. Schupp PJ (2020) Compositional and quantitative insights into bacterial and archaeal communities of South Pacific deep-sea sponges (Demospongiae and Hexactinellida). Front Microbiol 11, 716:
Rubin-Blum M, Antony CP, Sayavedra L, Birgel D, Peckmann J, Wu YC, C谩rdenas P, Martinez-Perez C, Marcon Y, MacDonald I, Sahling H, Hentschel U, Dubilier N (2019) Fueled by methane: Deep-sea sponges from asphalt seeps gain their nutrition from methane-oxidizing symbionts. 13(5):1209-1225; doi: 10.1038/s41396-019-0346-7.
H2020 SponGES: Deep-sea Sponge Grounds Ecosystems of the North Atlantic: an integrated approach towards their preservation and sustainable exploitation
