Species-specific community structure in the microbiomes and eukaryotic communities associated with Mediterranean golf ball sponges

We found species-specific prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities despite the close sympatry of the three Mediterranean <i>Tethya</i> species studied. This offers further support for the phylogenetic nature of the sponge microbiome, where microbial communities reflect the evolutionary ancestry of their host species. These patterns are both present in the eukaryotic and prokaryotic sponge-associated communities, since both display similar levels of host species specificity.