Data from: The specific and exclusive microbiome of the deep-sea bone-eating snail, Rubyspira osteovora

Rubyspira osteovora is an unusual deep-sea snail from Monterey Canyon, California. This group has only been found on decomposing whales and is thought to use bone as a novel source of nutrition. This study characterized the gut microbiome of R. osteovora, compared to the surrounding environment, as well as to other deep-sea snails with more typical diets. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that R. osteovora digestive tissues host a much lower bacterial diversity (average Shannon index of 1.9; n = 12), compared to environmental samples (average Shannon index of 4.4; n = 2) and are dominated by two bacterial genera: Mycoplasma and Psychromonas (comprising up to 56% and 42% average total recovered sequences, respectively). These two bacteria, along with Psychrilyobacter sp. (∼16% average recovered sequences), accounted for between 43% and 92% of the total recovered sequences in individual snail digestive systems, with other OTUs present at much lower proportions. The relative abundance of these three groups remained similar over 6 years of sampling (collection date was not shown to be a significant predictor of community structure), suggesting a long-term association. Furthermore, these bacterial genera were either not present (Mycoplasma and Psychromonas) or at very low abundance (<0.04% for Psychrilyobacter), in environmental samples and other deep-sea gastropods, supporting the uniqueness of the R. osteovora gut microbiome.

Rubyspira osteovora是一种产自美国加利福尼亚州蒙特利峡谷的罕见深海螺类。该类群仅在腐解鲸类遗体中被发现，被认为以鲸骨作为新型营养来源。本研究对该物种的肠道微生物组进行了表征，并将其与周边环境样本以及其他以常规膳食为营养方式的深海螺类进行了对比分析。通过对16S rRNA基因序列的分析发现，相较于环境样本（平均香农指数（Shannon index）为4.4，样本量n=2），R. osteovora的消化组织内细菌多样性显著更低（平均香农指数（Shannon index）为1.9，样本量n=12），且其肠道菌群以两个菌属为主：支原体属（Mycoplasma）和嗜冷单胞菌属（Psychromonas），二者分别平均占总回收序列的56%与42%。这两个菌属连同嗜冷杆菌属未定种（Psychrilyobacter sp.，平均占回收序列的约16%），在单只螺类的消化系统总回收序列中占比可达43%至92%，其余操作分类单元（Operational Taxonomic Units，OTUs）的占比则显著更低。上述三类菌群的相对丰度在长达6年的采样周期中保持稳定（采样日期未被证实为群落结构的显著预测因子），表明该物种与这些菌群之间存在长期的共生关联。此外，在环境样本与其他深海腹足类中，上述菌属要么完全未被检出（支原体属与嗜冷单胞菌属），要么丰度极低（嗜冷杆菌属未定种的丰度<0.04%），这进一步佐证了R. osteovora肠道微生物组的独特性。