Diversity of Actinobacteria Associated with the Marine Sponge Aplysina Fistularis
Abstract
Actinomycetes (phylum Actinobacteria) are the most economically and biotechnologically valuable prokaryotes and are best known as a source of diverse secondary metabolites, such as antibiotics, antitumor compounds, immunosuppressants, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic agents, and enzyme inactivating compounds. By the 1980s, approximately 70% of the world’s naturally occurring antibiotics were attributed to actinomycetes. Though significant amount of effort has been focused on isolating terrestrial actinomycetes for drug screening programs, the rate of discovery of new compounds has decreased. Additionally, the re isolation of known compounds has become frequent. It is imperative to search for novel secondary metabolites, especially antibiotics, due to the development of new diseases with unknown causes and antibiotic resistant pathogens. Hence actinomycete diversity in marine environments and search for new species has increased. Oceans are a resource for biodiversity in part because they facilitate numerous endosymbiotic and host associated relationships with microorganisms, such as those observed in marine sponges. Sponges are known to host diverse groups of microorganisms, which comprises up to 60% of the sponge’s biomass. By using culture independent techniques, diverse bacterial communities associated with sponges have been found, mainly consisting of ten different phyla. It has been established that Caribbean sponges of the genus Aplysina harbor large amounts of bacteria and are the most chemically defended species. Even though actinomycetes have been reported in sponges of this genus, it is not clear whether the sponge microbiome is responsible for the production of secondary metabolites found in the sponge tissue. For this project, the marine sponge Aplysina fistularis will be examined for the presence of actinomycetes through culture dependent methods. Sponge specimens will be collected by SCUBA diving.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2022
- Source ID
- FA95501910311
Entities
People
- Govind Nadathur
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez