ArticleThe ISME journal2019
Fueled by methane: deep-sea sponges from asphalt seeps gain their nutrition from methane-oxidizing symbionts.
Article in The ISME journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
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42 citing papers in PubMed, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ammonia oxidation and recalcitrant carbon degradation fuel mixotrophic growth in the symbiont community of a deep-sea sponge.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Microbially mediated carbon utilization by a cold-water coral inhabiting methane seeps.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparative Analysis of Sponge-Associated, Seawater, and Sediment Microbial Communities from Site F Cold Seep in the South China Sea.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Seasonal and spatial dynamics of the microbiome of the polychaete Lanice conchilega in the Wadden Sea.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Metagenomic binning reveals community and functional characteristics of sulfur- and methane-oxidizing bacteria in cold seep sponge ground.Environmental microbiome · 2025Article
- Host Shaping Associated Microbiota in Hydrothermal Vent Snails from the Indian Ocean Ridge.Biology · 2025Article
- Methane-powered sea spiders: Diverse, epibiotic methanotrophs serve as a source of nutrition for deep-sea methane seepProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- From Sea to Freshwater: Shared and Unique Microbial Traits in Sponge Associated Prokaryotic Communities.Current microbiology · 2025Article
- Novel Gene Clusters for Secondary Metabolite Synthesis in Mesophotic Sponge-Associated Bacteria.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Article
- Survival strategies for the microbiome in a vent-dwelling glass sponge from the middle Okinawa Trough.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Thaumarchaeota from deep-sea methane seeps provide novel insights into their evolutionary history and ecological implications.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Novel, active, and uncultured hydrocarbon-degrading microbes in the ocean.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Deciphering Microbial Communities and Distinct Metabolic Pathways in the Tangyin Hydrothermal Fields of Okinawa Trough through Metagenomic and Genomic Analyses.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- High compositional and functional similarity in the microbiome of deep-sea sponges.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- The complete mitochondrial genome of the deep-sea methanotrophic spongesJournal of genetics · 2024Article
- Mosaic environment-driven evolution of the deep-sea mussel Gigantidas platifrons bacterial endosymbiont.Microbiome · 2023Article
- Trophic ecology of Angolan cold-water coral reefs (SE Atlantic) based on stable isotope analyses.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The microbiome of the marine flatworm Macrostomum lignano provides fitness advantages and exhibits circadian rhythmicity.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Article
- Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics reveal broadly distributed, active, novel methanotrophs in the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone and in the marine water column.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sponges host a remarkable diversity of microbial symbionts, however, the benefit their microbes provide is rarely understood. Here, we describe two new sponge species from deep-sea asphalt seeps and show that they live in a nutritional symbiosis with methane-oxidizing (MOX) bacteria. Metagenomics and imaging analyses revealed unusually high amounts of MOX symbionts in hosts from a group previously assumed to have low microbial abundances. These symbionts belonged to the Marine Methylotrophic Group 2 clade. They are host-specific and likely vertically transmitted, based on their presence in sponge embryos and streamlined genomes, which lacked genes typical of related free-living MOX. Moreover, genes known to play a role in host-symbiont interactions, such as those that encode eukaryote-like proteins, were abundant and expressed. Methane assimilation by the symbionts was one of the most highly expressed metabolic pathways in the sponges. Molecular and stable carbon isotope patterns of lipids confirmed that methane-derived carbon was incorporated into the hosts. Our results revealed that two species of sponges, although distantly related, independently established highly specific, nutritional symbioses with two closely related methanotrophs. This convergence in symbiont acquisition underscores the strong selective advantage for these sponges in harboring MOX bacteria in the food-limited deep sea.
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