Bacterial Diversity of the South Pacific Sponge, Dactylospongia metachromia Based on DGGE Fingerprinting

Abstract

The bacterial community structures of the marine sponge, Dactylospongia metachromia, collected from Chuuk of Micronesia on February 2012, were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The DGGE fingerprints of two individuals of D. metachromia, CH607 and CH840 showed the same band patterns. The sequences derived from DGGE bands revealed 93~100% similarities with known bacterial species in the public database and high similarity with uncultured bacterial clones. The bacterial community structures of both D. metachromia sponges (CH607, CH840) were composed of 6 phyla, 8 classes: Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Spirochaetes. DGGE fingerprint -based phylogenetic analysis revealed that the bacterial community profiles were identical in two individuals of the same sponge species collected from the same geographical location.