Diversity and antibacterial activity of bacteria cultured from MediterraneanAxinellaspp. sponges

Abstract

Aims: Evaluation of the diversity and antibacterial activity of bacteria cultivated from Mediterranean Axinella sponges and investigating the influence of culture conditions on antibacterial activity profiles of sponge bacteria. Methods and Results: Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the 259 bacteria isolated from the three Mediterranean Axinella sponges A. cannabina, A. verrucosa and A. polypoides belonged to 41 genera from the four phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and included five potential newly cultured genera. In antagonistic streak assays, 87 isolates (34%) from 13 genera showed antibacterial activity towards at least one of the 10 environmental and laboratory test bacteria. The extracts and filtrates of 22 isolates grown under three different culture conditions were less often active as the isolates in the corresponding antagonistic streak assays. Changes in antibacterial activity profiles were isolate-and culture condition-specific. Conclusions: Axinella sponges are a good source to cultivate phylogenetic diverse and hitherto novel bacteria, many of which with antibacterial activity. Analysis of induced antibacterial activities might enhance the role of sponge bacteria in efforts to isolate new antibiotics in the future. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study was the first to investigate the diversity and antibacterial activity of bacteria isolated from A. cannabina and A. verrucosa. It highlights the potential importance of induced activity and the need for employing multiple culture conditions in antibacterial screening assays of sponge-associated bacteria.

The antimicrobial activity of heterotrophic bacteria isolated from the marine sponge Erylus deficiens (Astrophorida, Geodiidae)

“…Since one of the most effective methods used in the discovery of natural products is the cultivation of new microbial strains which may represent novel important chemotypes (Fenical and Jensen, 2006 ; Haber and Ilan, 2013 ), our prime goal was to obtain bacterial isolates for screening antimicrobial activities.…”

Antibacterial Activities of Bacteria Isolated from the Marine Sponges Isodictya compressa and Higginsia bidentifera Collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa

“…Isodictya compressa was first described by Esper in 1794, while Waltherarndtia caliculatum was described by Kirkpatrick in 1903, both of which are endemic to South Africa [30,31,32,33] and the bacteria associated with these three marine sponges have not been investigated. Axinella and Spongia species have a global distribution and the microbial populations of some species of these sponge genera have been studied [34,35,36,37]. We first determined the bacterial diversity associated with these five sponges, then isolated bacteria from two of these and demonstrated their ability to produce antibacterial compounds.…”

Characterization of lignocellulolytic activities from fungi isolated from the deep-sea sponge Stelletta normani

“…Marine sponges (phylum Porifera ) which are the most primitive pluricellular animals [4], often contain microbial communities that consist of symbiotic bacteria, archaea and unicellular eukaryotes. Microbial populations associated with different marine sponges from locations geographically distributed from around the world have been studied including the Great Barrier Reef [5], the Red Sea [6], the Mediterranean [7], the northern Atlantic [8], South America [9], China [10] and the Indo Pacific [11]. While bacterial populations derived from sponges have been extensively described, fungal communities associated with sponges remain relatively under studied.…”