Antimicrobial Activity of Heterotrophic Bacterial Communities from the Marine Sponge Erylus discophorus (Astrophorida, Geodiidae)

Abstract

Heterotrophic bacteria associated with two specimens of the marine sponge Erylus discophorus were screened for their capacity to produce bioactive compounds against a panel of human pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus wild type and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus), fish pathogen (Aliivibrio fischeri) and environmentally relevant bacteria (Vibrio harveyi). The sponges were collected in Berlengas Islands, Portugal. Of the 212 isolated heterotrophic bacteria belonging to Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes, 31% produced antimicrobial metabolites. Bioactivity was found against both Gram positive and Gram negative and clinically and environmentally relevant target microorganisms. Bioactivity was found mainly against B. subtilis and some bioactivity against S. aureus MRSA, V. harveyi and A. fisheri. No antifungal activity was detected. The three most bioactive genera were Pseudovibrio (47.0%), Vibrio (22.7%) and Bacillus (7.6%). Other less bioactive genera were Labrenzia, Acinetobacter, Microbulbifer, Pseudomonas, Gordonia, Microbacterium, Micrococcus and Mycobacterium, Paenibacillus and Staphylococcus. The search of polyketide I synthases (PKS-I) and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) genes in 59 of the bioactive bacteria suggested the presence of PKS-I in 12 strains, NRPS in 3 strains and both genes in 3 strains. Our results show the potential of the bacterial community associated with Erylus discophorus sponges as producers of bioactive compounds.

Diversity and Bioactivity of Marine Bacteria Associated with the Sponges Candidaspongia flabellata and Rhopaloeides odorabile from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

“…The main bacterial families isolated from Candidaspongia flabellata belonged to Rhodobacteraceae (48%) and Pseudomonadaceae (16%, Figure 2); from Rhopaloeides odorabile, they were from Vibrionaceae (28%) and Alteromonadaceae (22%, Figure 3). Some of these isolates were found to be related to the members of families known to produce bioactive compounds [34,[52][53][54].…”

“…Rhopaloeides odorabile is a common Dictyoceratida sponge species to the Great Barrier Reef and is known to house an uncommon group of C20 diterpenes [33]. Both these sponge species are known to house a variety of bacterial genera [7,34]. Previously, the full cultivatable heterotrophic bacterial community associated with C. flabellata was identified by Burja and Hill [7] and the main bioactive compound isolated from this sponge species was fanolide, which has been shown to inhibit the growth of some tumour cells [7].…”

An Overview on Marine Sponge-Symbiotic Bacteria as Unexhausted Sources for Natural Product Discovery

“…Bacterial genera associated with sponges that are known to produce biologically active compounds include Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Fumicates, Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, 'Poribacteria', Bacteriodetes and Verrucomicrobia [52,141]. Marine-derived bioactive compounds have been reported to have functional roles within their symbiotic environments as well as have biotechnological uses as antimicrobials, anticancer agents, pigments, vitamins, and enzymes used in industry [141][142][143][144][145].…”

“…Marine-derived bioactive compounds have been reported to have functional roles within their symbiotic environments as well as have biotechnological uses as antimicrobials, anticancer agents, pigments, vitamins, and enzymes used in industry [141][142][143][144][145]. These compounds, that in nature are produced as a defense against competitors, predators, and pathogens [20,107,115,146] providing the host organism with competitive advantages in the environment by increasing their access to space and nutrients through elimination of the competitors [6,57,147], may exhibit antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial, or cytotoxic properties that can and have been used in therapeutic agents in the pharmaceutical industry [106,148,149].…”

Molecular characterization and bioactivity profile of the tropical sponge-associated bacterium Shewanella algae VCDB

“…Among the microbes, the bacterial community in the sponge differs significantly from seawater and sediments in density and diversity. The spongeassociated bacteria could be viewed as a highly potential source for the production of antibiotic compounds (Waters et al 2010;Graca et al 2013). The recovery of culturable bacterial strains with different bioactivity profiles shows that the sponge tissues could be rich sources for isolating new strains of bacteria with potential capabilities of producing novel bioactive secondary metabolites (Xiong et al 2013).…”