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P.169 left column: "16S rRNA gene library construction using universal bacterial PCR primers revealed a common microbial signature in many sponges that is phylogenetically complex yet highly
sponge-specific and distinctly different from that of marine plankton (Fig. 4). 16S rRNA gene phylotypes affiliated with
the phyla Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria
(Alpha-, Gamma-, Delta-), Nitrospira, Cyanobacteria, and Bacteriodetes, as well as a cluster of uncertain
affiliation now recognized as the Gemmatimonadetes (U. Henschel, unpublished data) were recovered by this approach. In addition, a crenarchaeal lineage was documented in Axinella mexicana and other axinellid sponges (Preston et al., 1996 Margot et al., 2002), and a new eubacterial candidate
phylum ‘Poribacteria’ was recently discovered in verongid sponges (Fieseler et al., 2004). The fact that the apparently sponge-specific phylotypes are present below detection levels
or may even be absent from seawater, sediment and other environments indicates highly selective conditions for microbial existence within the sponge mesohyl." See caption below figure |