A total of 106 actinobacteria associated with the marine sponge Hymeniacidon perleve collected from the Yellow Sea, China were isolated using eight different media. The number of species and genera of actinobacteria recovered from the different media varied significantly, underlining the importance of optimizing the isolation conditions. The phylogenetic diversity of the actinobacteria isolates was assessed using 16S rRNA gene amplification-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the 106 strains with different morphologies. The RFLP fingerprinting of selected strains by HhaI-digestion of the 16S rRNA genes resulted in 11 different patterns. The HhaI-RFLP analysis gave good resolution for the identification of the actinobacteria isolates at the genus level. A phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolates belonged to seven genera of culturable actinobacteria including Actinoalloteichus, Micromonospora, Nocardia, Nocardiopsis, Pseudonocardia, Rhodococcus, and Streptomyces. The dominant genus was Streptomyces, which represented 74% of the isolates. Three of the strains identified are candidates for new species.

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The sulfated exopolysaccharide p-KG03, which is produced by the marine microalga Gyrodinium impudicum strain KG03, exhibited impressive antiviral activity in vitro (EC50 = 26.9 micro g/ml) against the encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). Depending on the p-KG03 concentration, the development of cytopathic effects in EMCV-infected HeLa cells was either inhibited completely or slowed. Moreover, p-KG03 did not show any cytotoxic effects on HeLa cells, even at concentrations up to 1000 microg/ml. The polysaccharide was purified by repeated precipitation in ethanol, followed by gel filtration. The p-KG03 polysaccharide had a molecular weight of 1.87 x 10(7), and was characterized as a homopolysaccharide of galactose with uronic acid (2.96% wt/wt) and sulfate groups (10.32% wt/wt). The biological activities of p-KG03 suggest that sulfated metabolites from marine organisms are a rich source of antiviral agents. This is the first reported marine source of antiviral sulfated polysaccharides against EMCV. The p-KG03 polysaccharide may be useful in the development of marine bioactive exopolysaccharide for biotechnological and pharmaceutical products.

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The diversity and physiological characteristics of culturable bacteria associated with lichens from different habitats of the Arctic and Antarctica were investigated. The 68 retrieved isolates could be grouped on the basis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences into 26 phylotypes affiliated with the phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, and Firmicutes and with the classes Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. Isolates belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria were the most abundant, followed by those belonging to Actinobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Deinococcus-Thermus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that approximately 21 % of the total isolates represented a potentially novel species or genus (≤97 % sequence similarity). Strains belonging to the genera Sphingomonas, Frondihabitans, Hymenobacter, and Burkholderia were recovered from lichen samples from both geographic locations, implying common and important bacterial functions within lichens. Extracellular protease activities were detected in six isolates, affiliated with Burkholderia, Frondihabitans, Hymenobacter, Pseudomonas, and Rhodanobacter. Extracellular lipase activities were detected in 37 isolates of the genera Burkholderia, Deinococcus, Frondihabitans, Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter, Sphingomonas, and Subtercola. This is the first report on the culturable bacterial diversity present within lichens from Arctic and Antarctica and the isolates described herein are valuable resources to decode the functional and ecological roles of bacteria within lichens. In addition, the low similarity (≤97 %) of the recovered isolates to known species and their production of cold-active enzymes together suggest that lichens are noteworthy sources of novel bacterial strains for use in biotechnological applications.