Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant taxa in the sick sponges that are acidophilic. There was also a decrease of methanotroph taxa in the sick sponge samples compared to the healthy sponge samples which suggested methane was not associated with the disease outbreak. However decreased pH may be a factor related to Red Sponge Disease.
","abstract_html":"<p>Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant taxa in the sick sponges that are acidophilic. There was also a decrease of methanotroph taxa in the sick sponge samples compared to the healthy sponge samples which suggested methane was not associated with the disease outbreak. However decreased pH may be a factor related to Red Sponge Disease.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rorex, Colin"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science - Biology","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Biology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Alexandra Van Kley","James Van Kley","Kenneth Farrish"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:15Z","subjects":["Lake Baikal","sponge","disease","microbiome","Russia","fresh water sponge","Bioinformatics","Biology","Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology","Marine Biology","Other Genetics and Genomics","Other Immunology and Infectious Disease"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/189","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Alexandra Van Kley","James Van Kley","Kenneth Farrish"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rorex, Colin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-05-24T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science - Biology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Lake Baikal","sponge","disease","microbiome","Russia","fresh water sponge","Bioinformatics","Biology","Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology","Marine Biology","Other Genetics and Genomics","Other Immunology and Infectious Disease"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/189"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant taxa in the sick sponges that are acidophilic. There was also a decrease of methanotroph taxa in the sick sponge samples compared to the healthy sponge samples which suggested methane was not associated with the disease outbreak. However decreased pH may be a factor related to Red Sponge Disease.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Changes in the microbial community of Lubomirskia baicalensis affected by Red Sponge Disease"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Alexandra Van Kley","James Van Kley","Kenneth Farrish"],"dc:creator":["Rorex, Colin"],"dc:date.available":["2018-05-24T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant taxa in the sick sponges that are acidophilic. There was also a decrease of methanotroph taxa in the sick sponge samples compared to the healthy sponge samples which suggested methane was not associated with the disease outbreak. However decreased pH may be a factor related to Red Sponge Disease.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/189"],"dc:subject":["Lake Baikal","sponge","disease","microbiome","Russia","fresh water sponge","Bioinformatics","Biology","Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology","Marine Biology","Other Genetics and Genomics","Other Immunology and Infectious Disease"],"dc:title":["Changes in the microbial community of Lubomirskia baicalensis affected by Red Sponge Disease"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science - Biology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:15Z"}