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Sponges are ideal targets to study marine symbioses. They harbour highly diverse microbial communities. A recently discovered association between the sponge Hemimycale columella and an intracellular bacterium that generates large amounts of calcite spherules has prompted speculation on the possible role of intracellular bacteria in the evolution of the skeleton in early animals. To gain insight into this purportedly ancestral symbiosis, researchers investigated the presence of symbiotic bacteria in Mediterranean and Caribbean sponges. [Source: Scientific Reports]
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