@misc{10481/93668,
year = {2024},
month = {5},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93668},
abstract = {Holothurians, as benthic invertebrates inhabiting marine ecosystems, have a crucial
function in that they actively process organic detritus in the sediments. Previous works have provided
evidence of the capability of holothurians to reduce nitrate and ammonium concentrations in
aquaculture tanks. However, the mechanisms underlying this nitrogen decrease still need to be
elucidated and might be related to bacterial symbionts in the holothurians. Here we characterize
the community of bacterial symbionts in the biofilm and subcuticle of Holothuria tubulosa and
explore the presence of nitrification and denitrification genes. To characterize these bacterial symbionts,
we extracted DNA and amplified the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. We
obtained a notable contribution of Bacteroidota, Alphaproteobacteria (mostly Rhodobacterales),
and Gammaproteobacteria (mostly Pseudomonadales) both within the biofilm and subcuticle of
H. tubulosa. Subsequently, we tested the presence of specific genes encoding enzymes involved in
nitrification (i.e. archaeal amoA and bacterial amoA) and denitrification (i.e. nirS and nosZ). Our
results confirm the presence of denitrification genes in the holothurian biofilms. These findings
indicate that the holothurians house a diverse community of bacterial symbionts, which includes
species with the potential for nitrogen removal. Therefore, holothurian holobionts may play a multifaceted
ecological role, both processing organic detritus and reducing nitrogen levels in coastal
areas. These roles could be extended to sustainable aquaculture, making them valuable ecosystem
engineers with significant implications for ecosystem and aquaculture health.},
organization = {Project PID2022-137865OB-I00 funded by
MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/},
organization = {ERDF, EU},
organization = {HOLOSYSTEMS Project from the Junta de Andalucía,
Consejería de Transformación Económica, Indus -
tria, Conocimiento y Universidades (grant no. P20.00705)},
organization = {Agencia Estatal de Investigación
(PTA2018-016205-I)},
organization = {Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Uni -
versidades of Spain (CRONOS project, RTI2018-098849-BI00)
at the University of Granada},
organization = {Marie
Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship (HORIZON-291
MSCA-2021-PF-01, project number: 101066750) by the European
Commission at Princeton University},
publisher = {Inter-Research Science Publisher},
keywords = {Echinoderm microbiome},
keywords = {Biofilm},
keywords = {Subcuticular bacteria},
title = {Subcuticular and biofilm microbiomes in Holothuria tubulosa and their potential for denitrification},
doi = {10.3354/meps14591},
author = {Martínez Moreno, Silke and León Palmero, Elizabeth and J. Pula, Héctor and Cabello, Ana María and Ferrera, Isabel and Reche Cañabate, Isabel},
}