Disease has become an increasingly recognised problem in the marine environment, but our understanding of the factors that drive disease or our ability to predict its occurrence is limited. Marine sponges are known for their close associations with microorganisms, which are generally accepted to underpin sponge health and function. The aim of this study is to explore whether the microbial community composition of sponges can act as a predictor of disease occurrence under stressful environmental conditions. The development of a naturally occurring disease in the temperate sponge species Scopalina sp. was reproducibly recreated in a flow-through aquarium environment using increasing temperature stress. Throughout the experiments, four morphological health states were observed and described. Fingerprinting based on terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism of the bacterial community uncovered a statistically significant signature in healthy sponges prior to stress or apparent symptoms that correlated with the time it took for the disease to occur. This shows that the bacterial community composition of individual sponges can act as predictors of necrotic disease development. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a microbial signature of this nature has been reported in marine sponges and this finding can contribute to unravelling cause-effect pathways for stress-related dysbiosis and disease.

中文翻译：

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海绵Scopalina sp.的应激反应。微生物群落组成可以预测海绵病吗？

疾病已成为海洋环境中日益公认的问题，但我们对导致疾病的因素的理解或我们预测其发生的能力是有限的。海洋海绵以其与微生物的密切联系而闻名，这些微生物被普遍认为是海绵健康和功能的基础。本研究的目的是探索海绵的微生物群落组成是否可以作为压力环境条件下疾病发生的预测因子。温带海绵物种 Scopalina sp. 中自然发生的疾病的发展。使用增加的温度应力在流通的水族箱环境中可重复地再现。在整个实验过程中，观察和描述了四种形态健康状态。基于细菌群落末端限制性片段长度多态性的指纹分析揭示了健康海绵在压力或与疾病发生时间相关的明显症状之前具有统计学意义的特征。这表明单个海绵的细菌群落组成可以作为坏死性疾病发展的预测因子。据我们所知，这是第一次在海绵中报道这种性质的微生物特征，这一发现有助于解开与压力相关的生态失调和疾病的因果途径。这表明单个海绵的细菌群落组成可以作为坏死性疾病发展的预测因子。据我们所知，这是第一次在海绵中报道这种性质的微生物特征，这一发现有助于解开与压力相关的生态失调和疾病的因果途径。这表明单个海绵的细菌群落组成可以作为坏死性疾病发展的预测因子。据我们所知，这是第一次在海绵中报道这种性质的微生物特征，这一发现有助于解开与压力相关的生态失调和疾病的因果途径。