Sponges are simple multicellular animals that produced many pharmaceutical secondary metabolites. Some sponge-associated bacteria are proven to produce the same metabolites as their host, giving an opportunity to mass produce the potential metabolites. The aim of this research was to analyze the diversity of sponge-associated bacteria and to identify  the host sponge. Samples were collected from Seribu Islands National Park. Partial identification of sponges were conducted by molecular technique with the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) as the target area. The diversity of sponge-associated bacteria was determined by Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) method. Result showed that sponges PS-17-12 has similarity with Petrosia sp., while PS-26-12 and PS-38-12 has similarity with Xestospongia muta. From the 3 sponge samples, 85 species of bacteria was obtained which can be classified into 9 phylums and 1 uncultured bacteria/environment sample. Some of  the sponge-associated bacteria identified were known as a potential producer of metabolites with antibiotic activity.

The availability of high-quality seeds is now a necessity. This is due to a government program to replace oil palm trees in smallholder plantations with high quality seeds. An efficient protocol to produce a large number of embryos is needed. To increase the number of embryogenic callus production, the callus proliferation experiment was carried out through suspension culture. This study aimed to examine the proliferation ability of embryogenic callus from three different oil palm clones, in several repeated subcultures. Liquid MS media added with 1 ppm 2.4-D and 0.1 ppm NAA were used. Embryogenic callus was weighed by 0.1 - 0.2 g, transferred into the liquid media, shaking at 60-80 rpm and 27 ºC for 8 weeks without light. Continues subcultures were repeated up to 7 times. The results showed that the growth rate of embryogenic callus increased in the third and fourth subcultures and then decreased in subsequent subcultures. It also revealed that the entire embryogenic callus from the first subculture up to seventh subculture still has the ability to regenerate into new plants. These results indicate that oil palm embryogenic callus can be proliferated by suspension culture with a limit up to the fourth subculture. Ketersediaan benih kelapa sawit berkualitas saat ini merupakan kebutuhan karena adanya program pemerintah untuk menggantikan tanaman sawit di kebun-kebun petani. Salah satu cara vegetatif yang dapat dilakukan adalah meningkatkan jumlah kalus embriogenik yang dihasilkan melalui pengembangan kultur suspensi. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji kemampuan proliferasi kalus embriogenik dari tiga klon kelapa sawit, pada beberapa kali subkultur yang berulang. Media cair MS dengan penambahan 1 ppm 2,4-D dan 0,1 ppm NAA digunakan untuk memperbanyak 0,1–0,2 g kalus embriogenik, dikocok pada 60-80 rpm dan suhu 27 ºC tanpa cahaya selama 8 minggu. Subkultur berulang dilakukan hingga 7 kali. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan proliferasi kalus dipengaruhi oleh genotip tanaman induk. Rata-rata kalus embriogenik dapat meningkat pada subkultur ke-3 dan ke-4 dan semakin menurun pada subkultur selanjutnya. Kalus embriogenik hasil proliferasi subkultur pertama hingga ke-7 dapat tumbuh menjadi calon tanaman baru. Hasil ini menunjukkan bahwa kalus embriogenik kelapa sawit dapat diperbanyak dengan kultur suspensi pada batas sampai subkultur ke-4.

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The content of polysaccharides, polyphenols, proteins, and RNA compounds is the main problem often found in Plants DNA isolation, which inhibit the process of DNA isolation. Comparing the methods of plant DNA isolation is necessary for obtaining the DNA with good quality, purity, high concentration and efficiency time and cost. This study aimed to determine the best DNA isolation method that derived from leaves of a potential anti-cancer Rodent Tuber (Typhonium flagelliforme) plant by comparing the conventional DNA isolation method (cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide/CTAB) and 2 commercial kits (Promega Wizard™ Genomic DNA Purification Kits, and Geneaid Genomic Mini Kit). The results showed that the CTAB method yielded a higher amount of DNA (>100 ng/µL) at the cost of 0.49 USD per sample, in comparison with Promega method (69.19 to 157.68 ng/µL) at 3.28 USD per sample and Geneaid method (8.15 to 18.52 ng/µL) at 2.06 USD per sample. Based on the purity of isolated DNA (A260/280), CTAB method produced relatively similar DNA quality to Promega kit (1.8-2.0). On the other hand, Geneaid method resulted in a lower purity value at 1.15 to 1.60.

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