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Title |
Comparative sequence analysis of bacterial symbionts from the marine sponges Geodia cydonium and Ircinia muscarum |
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Authors |
Antonio Zuppa1, Susan Costantini2 & Maria Costantini1* |
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Affiliation |
1Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy; 2Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori 'Fondazione Giovanni Pascale', IRCCS, Napoli, Italia
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maria.costantini@szn.it; *Corresponding author
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Article Type |
Hypothesis
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Date |
Received February 19, 2014; Accepted February 24, 2014; Published April 23, 2014
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Abstract |
Marine sponges (Porifera) live in a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, primarily bacteria. Recently, several studies indicated that sponges are the most prolific source of biologically-active compounds produced by symbiotic microorganisms rather than by the sponges themselves. In the present study we characterized the bacterial symbionts from two Demospongiae, Ircinia muscarum and Geodia cydonium. We amplified 16S rRNA by PCR, using specific bacterial-primers. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of nine bacterial clones from I. muscarum and ten from G. cydonium. In particular, I. muscarum resulted enriched in Bacillus species and G. cydonium in Proteobacterium species. Since these bacteria were able to produce secondary metabolites with potential biotechnological and biopharmaceutical applications, we hypothesized that I. muscarum and G. cydonium could be a considered as a “gold mine” of natural products.
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Keywords |
bacterial symbionts; natural products; 16S rRNA; sponges.
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Citation |
Zuppa et al.
Bioinformation 10(4): 196-200 (2014) |
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Edited by |
P Kangueane
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ISSN |
0973-2063
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Publisher |
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License |
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. |