GROUP DESCRIPTION

Our research group focuses on understanding the origins, evolution and mechanisms of maintenance of marine biodiversity through an integrative and multidisciplinary approach. We specialize in the study of several marine invertebrates, with particular emphasis on sponges and other early-diverging animal lineages. Our group combines field sampling, experimental settings, modern molecular tools and advanced imaging techniques to resolve fundamental evolutionary and ecological questions related to the evolution of animals, origins sexual reproduction and host-microbe cross-talk. We have ongoing projects aimed to unravel the molecular mechanisms behind the diversity of sex determination systems in sponges and annelids, and the compositional and functional feedback that allows the establishment of complex and diverse symbiotic relationships in marine invertebrates.

In addition, a central research line is the use of sponges to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) and the application of metabarcoding approaches to assess biodiversity in marine ecosystems. We combine this approach with other methods to understand molecular ecology patterns, including genomic connectivity across spatial scales. Our work often integrates field sampling in remote and understudied marine environments, including deep-sea ecosystems, and we develop and apply innovative molecular protocols adapted to challenging samples and environments. Our research contributes to improving biodiversity monitoring and assessment frameworks for conservation action.

GROUP OBJECTIVES

The lab is interested in understanding how major evolutionary traits such as sexual reproduction and symbiosis emerged and evolved in the animal tree of life. Another objective of our lab is to develop and apply novel non-invasive techniques to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of marine ecosystems to promote their conservation.

RESEARCH GROUP MEMBERS

Group leader

Ana Riesgo

Postdoctoral researcher

Irene de Sosa

Postdoctoral researcher

Marta Miñarro

MSCA Postdoctoral researcher

Marta Turon

FPI Predoctoral researcher

Jose M. Lorente-Sorolla

CAM Predoctoral researcher

Carlota Gracia-Sancha

FPI Predoctoral researcher

Laura de la Cruz Castillejo

CAM Predoctoral researcher

Robert Cassidy

CAM Predoctoral researcher

Almudena Álvarez

Research technician and lab manager

Ana Ramón-Laca

RESEARCH LINES

  1. Understanding the origin of sexual reproduction in animals
  2. Unraveling the molecular interplay of host-microbe associations
  3. Adaptations to deep-sea environments
  4. Conservation of marine ecosystems

PROJECTS

-2024–2027. SYMBIOFRESH: Biological and environmental drivers shaping the composition and function of symbiotic associations in freshwater sponges (PID2023-151348NB-I00). Total: 205.000 €. PI: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Plan de Generación del Conocimiento.

-2024-2026. CYCLOME: The life CYCLe assessment of the sponge microbiome. Total: 181.152,96€. P.I.: Marta Turon. Coordinator: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Excellent Science – Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions.

-2024–2026. MOBIOMAR: Monitoreo de biodiversidad en ecosistemas marinos vulnerables de aguas profundas mediante ADN ambiental con esponjas como muestreadores naturales (CNS- 2023-144571). Total: 173.200€. PI: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Consolidación Investigadora 2023).

-2022-2025. BGE: Biodiversity Genomics Europe (Grant ID 101059492). Total: 10.000.000€ (For MNCN: 317.079,59€). Coordinator: Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, WP leader: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: European Commission, HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-01.

–2022-2025. SponBIODIV: Marine sponge biodiversity from genes to ecosystems: delivering knowledge and tools for sustainable management and conservation (grantID: 101052342). Total: 1.953.609€ (For MNCN: 62.150€). Funding body: Biodiversa+ project European Biodiversity Partnership. PI Joana Xavier & Paco Cárdenas, WP leader: Ana Riesgo.

-2022-2025. Mechanism-Structure-Sequence Relationships in Silicon-Processing Enzymes (RPG-2022-084). Total: £210.710 P.I.: Lu Shin Wong. Co-P.I.: Ana Riesgo, David Leys. Funding body: Leverhulme Trust, UK.

-2022. LIFE-HUB CSIC JUMP-START. Acuaporinas: bases de la adaptación de esponjas de agua dulce. Total: 2.000€. P.I. Ana Riesgo. Co-P.I.: Juan A. Hermoso. Funding body: CSIC, Spain.

-2021-2025. SMARTEx: Seabed Mining and Resilience To EXperimental impact. Total: £4.000.000. P.I.: Daniel Jones, CoI: Ana Riesgo (+9 others). Funding body: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK.

-2021–2025. Freshwater sponges as natural eDNA samplers for monitoring the biodiversity of Iberian rivers (PIE-202030E006). Total: 150.000€. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: CSIC, Spain.

-2021. Origins of gonads (PID14610). Total: 20.000€. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: EASI-GENOMICS, European Consortium.

-2020–2024. EVOSEX: Evolution of animal sexual reproduction: genomic toolkits, microbiomes, and macroevolutionary patterns in sponges (PID2019-105769GB-I00). Total: 188.000€. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Program: Generación de Conocimiento, Spain.

-2020-2023. A Freshwater Sponge Holobiont: A broadly accessible emerging model system to understand evolutionary and ecological consequences of host:alga and host:microbe symbiont specialization. Total: $300.000. P.I.: April Hill, CoI: Ana Riesgo, Sally Leys. Funding body: Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation, USA.

-2020-2023. SpongeDNA: Bolstering marine biodiversity exploration and monitoring through natural environmental DNA samplers (NE/T007028/1). Total: £599.140. P.I.: Stefano Mariani, CoI: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK.

-2019-2021. Finding VENoMS: Venom Evolution in Nemerteans: Connecting Functional Morphology, Gene Expression and Proteome through Spatial Omics (Grant ID 841576). Total: 209.612,01€. P.I.: Aida Verdes. Coordinator: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Excellent Science – Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions.

-2018-2021. DeepSym: Understanding the drivers of the genetic and functional structure of deep-sea sponge symbiont communities (Grant ID 796011). Total: 195.454,80€. P.I.: Cristina Díez-Vives. Coordinator: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Excellent Science – Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions.

-2018-2022. iBioGen: Twinning for excellence in European Island Biodiversity Genomics (Grant ID: 810729). Total: 990.320€. P.I.: Anna Papadopoulou. CoIs: Brent Emerson, Alfried Vogler, Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Twinning of research institutions, European Commission.

-2017-2020. VENTS: The colonisation of hydrothermal vents by complex life: a natural experiment in macroevolution (NE/R000670/1). Total: £432.000. P.I.: Adrian Glover, CoI: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK.       

-2017-2019. ADAPTOMICS: Adaptations to temperature regimes in sponges: Genomic insights into the developmental and physiological evolutionary changes of early-branching metazoans (Grant ID 750937). Total: 195.454,80€. P.I.: Nathan J. Kenny. Coordinator: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Excellent Science – Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions.

-2017–2018. DNA barcoding as a tool for identifying potential invasive species in Brazilian harbours. Total: £24,900. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: Rutherford Fund (Department of Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy, Government UK), United Kingdom.

-2017–2018. Barcoding the corals and sponges from Colombian coral reefs. Total: £52,100. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: Rutherford Fund (Department of Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy, Government UK), United Kingdom.      

-2017–2018. Establishing a sponge culture for evo-devo approaches. Total: £10.700. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: The Royal Society, United Kingdom.

-2016-2020. SponGES – Deep-sea Sponge Grounds Ecosystems of the North Atlantic: an integrated approach towards their preservation and sustainable exploitation (Grant ID. 679849). Total: 10.275.365€. P.I.: Hans Tore Rapp; Work Package 3 Leader: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: European Union, H2020 framework, United Kingdom   

-2016–2018. Cold adaptation in Antarctic and tropical marine invertebrates. Total: £6.662. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum of London, United Kingdom.

-2015-2018. Early evolution of multicellular sponges – a bioenergetic and bio-fluid mechanical approach for understanding evolutionary adaptation to animal filter-feeding in the sea (Ref. 9278). Total: 859.699€. P.I.: Hans Ulrik Riisjgard, Work Package 6 Leader: Ana Riesgo. Funding body: Villum Foundation, Denmark           

-2014. Species delineation in the sponge genus Ircinia using multigene datasets. Total: 1.200€. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: The Linnean Society of London. United Kingdom.

-2013–2014. GorGene: Connectivity and genetic structure of the deep populations of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata located at the mouth of the submarine canyons of the Catalan Coast. Total: 12.400€. P.I.: Ana Riesgo. Funding Body: La Caixa Obra Social Foundation, Spain.

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Rossi, E., Keating, J.N., Kenny, N., Giacomelli, M., Alvarez-Carretero, S., Schuster, A., Cardenas, P., Taboada, S., Koutsouveli, V., Donoghue, P.C., Riesgo, A*. & Pisani, D. (2026). Independent origins of spicules reconcile palaeontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history. Science Advances, 12(2): eadx1754 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adx1754
  2. de Sosa, I., Turon, M., Taboada, S., Lorente‐Sorolla, J., Fernández, R., Tilikj, N., Piris, A., Novo, M., Alvarez Campos, P. and Riesgo, A*., (2025). No Mate, No Problem: Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Parthenogenesis in the Cosmopolitan Earthworm Aporrectodea trapezoides (Annelida, Clitellata). Molecular Ecology, 34(16), p.e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70010
  3. Taboada, S., Díez-Vives, C., Turon, M., Belén Arias, M., Galià-Camps, C., Cárdenas, P., Koutsouveli, V., Correia de Carvalho, F., Kenchington, E., Davies, A.J., Wang, S., Martín-Huete, M., Roberts, E.M., Xavier, J., Combosch, D., & Riesgo, A*. (2025). Connectivity and adaptation patterns of the deep-sea ground-forming sponge Geodia hentscheli across its entire distribution. Molecular Biology and Evolution,42(7), p.msaf145. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf145
  4. Turon, M., Koutsouveli, V., Conejero, M., Taboada, S., Verdes, A., Lorente-Sorolla, J.M., Díez-Vives, C. & Riesgo, A*., (2025). The archaeal class Nitrososphaeria is a key component of the reproductive microbiome in sponges during gametogenesis. mBio,16(6), pp.e02019-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02019-24
  5. Díez-Vives, C. and Riesgo, A*. (2024). High compositional and functional similarity in the microbiome of deep-sea sponges. The ISME Journal,wrad030. https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wrad030
  6. Gallego, R., Arias, M.B., Corral-Lou, A., Díez-Vives, C., Neave, E.F., Wang, C., Cárdenas, P., Steffen, K., Taboada, S., Villamor, A., Kenchington, E., Mariani, S., & Riesgo, A*. (2024). North Atlantic deep-sea benthic biodiversity unveiled through sponge natural sampler DNA. Communications Biology, 7(1), p.1015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06695-4
  7. Riesgo, A., Santodomingo, N., Koutsouveli, V., Kumala, L., Leger, M.M., Leys, S.P., Funch, P. (2022). Molecular machineries of ciliogenesis, cell survival, and vasculogenesis are differentially expressed during regeneration in explants of the demosponge Halichondria panicea. BMC Genomics, 23(1), p.17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-022-09035-0
  8. Kenny, N.J., Francis, W., Rivera-Vicéns, R.E., Juravel, K., de Mendoza, A., Díez-Vives, C., Lister, R., Bezares-Calderon, L., Grombacher, L., Roller, M. and Barlow, L.D., Camilli, S., Ryan, J.F., Wörheide, G., Hill, A.L., Riesgo, A., Leys, S. (2020). Tracing animal genomic evolution with the chromosomal-level assembly of the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri. Nature Communications, 11, 3676. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17397-0
  9. Koutsouveli, V., Cárdenas, P., Santodomingo, N., Marina, A., Morato, E., Rapp, H.T. and Riesgo, A*.(2020). The molecular machinery of gametogenesis in Geodia demosponges (Porifera): evolutionary origins of a conserved toolkit across animals. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37 (12), 3485-3506. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa233
  10. Mariani, S., Baillie, C., Colosimo, G. and Riesgo, A.(2019). Sponges as natural environmental DNA samplers. Current Biology, 29(11), pp.R401-R402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.031