Coral reef sponge microbiome Targeted Locus (Loci). sponge metagenome

Sponges that harbor microalgal or cyanobacterial symbionts may benefit from photosynthetically derived carbohydrates, which are rich in carbon but devoid of nitrogen, and may therefore encounter nitrogen limitation. Two Caribbean sponges, Ircinia strobilina and Mycale laxissima were studied in a time series during which three individuals of each sponge were collected in four time points (noon, 7:00pm, 10:00pm and 5:00am). nifH genes, as phylogenetic markers for diazotrophs, were successfully amplified from the corresponding genomic DNA and cDNA pools and sequenced by high throughput 454 amplicon sequencing. The goal of our study is to describe the diversity of nitrogen fixing bacteria community associated with the two coral reef sponge and find out how the active nitrogen fixers change during a 24 hours light/dark cycle.