Identification of the cellular site of polychlorinated peptide biosynthesis in the marine sponge Dysidea (Lamellodysidea) herbacea and symbiotic cyanobacterium Oscillatoria spongeliae by CARD-FISH analysis

Incidence and identity of photosynthetic symbionts in Caribbean coral reef sponge assemblages

“…The oligonucleotide forward primer SYN180F (5'-TAA TAG CCC ATA TGC CGA GAG GTG AAA CGA ATT TCG CCT GGG G-3') and reverse primer SYN1230R (5'GAG TAG CGA TCT TGC AAA ACT TAG GTA ATC TCG TAA ACC GTG G-3") were designed based on previously characterized cyanobacterial gene sequences (Steindler etal., 2005;Thacker, 2005) to amplify a fragment of the 16S rRNA subunit from the sponge symbiont Synechococcus spongiarum. To assess the specificity of the new primer pair, whole genomic extracts from 49 previously collected sponge samples (representing 17 species; Table 1) were screened for the presence of S. spongiarum using PCR amplification with SYN180F and SYN1230R Whole genomic DNA was extracted using the Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit (Promega); genomic extracts were cleaned using the Wizard DNA Clean-Up System (Promega).…”

“…Oscillatoria spongeliae is a filamentous cyanobacterium commonly associated with Indo-Pacific reef sponges (Hinde et al, 1994;Thacker & Stames, 2003;Ridley et al, 2005;Thacker, 2005) and inhabits at least three Caribbean species (Thacker et al, 2007). Synechococcus spongiarum is a single-celled cyanobacterium commonly associated with Caribbean, Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific reef sponges (Rtitzler, 1990;Usher et al, 2004a,b;Steindler et al, 2005;Thacker, 2005).…”

“…Oscillatoria spongeliae is a filamentous cyanobacterium commonly associated with Indo-Pacific reef sponges (Hinde et al, 1994;Thacker & Stames, 2003;Ridley et al, 2005;Thacker, 2005) and inhabits at least three Caribbean species (Thacker et al, 2007). Synechococcus spongiarum is a single-celled cyanobacterium commonly associated with Caribbean, Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific reef sponges (Rtitzler, 1990;Usher et al, 2004a,b;Steindler et al, 2005;Thacker, 2005). Molecular characterization of sponge-associated cyanobacteria revealed that 0. spongeliae represents a specialist symbiont, with genetically-distinct populations inhabiting specific host species (Thacker & Starnes, 2003;Thacker et al, 2007), while S. spongiarum appears to represent a generalist symbiont, exhibiting little genetic divergence based on host taxonomy or collection t", amplification; -, no amplification.…”

“…Although the global distribution of S. spongiarum has been well documented, few studies have investigated the local abundance of these symbionts among reef sponge communities (Riitzler, 1990). In addition to providing supplemental nutrition, symbiotic cyanobacteria may play multiple ecologically relevant roles, benefiting their hosts through the production of secondary metabolites (Flatt et al, 2005), the provision of fixed nitrogen (Wilkinson & Fay, 1979), and the reduction of UVexposure and oxidative stress (Yahel et al, 2003). As a result, cyanobacterial symbionts constitute a significant component of the ecological success and evolutionary history of coral reef sponge communities.…”

Chemical Defenses: From Compounds to Communities

“…Though bioactive compounds have been localized on the cellular level in several sponges (Unson et al, 1994;Flowers et al, 1998;Gillor et al, 2000;Salomon et al, 2001), localization may simply indicate the site where a compound is needed, rather than the site of origin (reviewed in Hildebrand et al, 2004b;and König et al, 2006). Molecular biology and metagenomics techniques based on identification of biosynthetic gene clusters have laid a foundation for future work to determine the source of bioactive compounds in many marine invertebrates (Davidson et al, 2001;Piel et al, 2004Piel et al, , 2005Flatt et al, 2005;Schmidt, 2005;Schmidt et al, 2005). Similar approaches focusing on isocyano terpene biosynthesis are critical for determining the source of the isocyano terpenes in sponges.…”