Spatial Variability in Secondary Metabolites of the Indo-Pacific Sponge Stylissa massa

Rohde, Sven; Gochfeld, Deborah J.; Ankisetty, Sridevi; Avula, Bharathi; Schupp, Peter J.; Slattery, Marc

doi:10.1007/s10886-012-0124-8

Cited by 46 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…These compounds are of particular interest due, among other things, to their ability to inhibit protein kinases. Both Stylissa species, X. testudinaria and H. erectus, also produce a large range of highly selective antibiotic compounds [96][97][98][99].…”

Section: Predictive Functional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and Predictive Functional Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Seawater, Sediment and Sponges in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia

et al. 2015

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In this study, we used a 16S rRNA gene barcoded pyrosequencing approach to sample bacterial communities from six biotopes, namely, seawater, sediment and four sponge species (Stylissa carteri, Stylissa massa, Xestospongia testudinaria and Hyrtios erectus) inhabiting coral reefs of the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Samples were collected along a pronounced onshore to offshore environmental gradient. Our goals were to (1) compare higher taxon abundance among biotopes, (2) test to what extent variation in bacterial composition can be explained by the biotope versus environment, (3) identify dominant (>300 sequences) bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and their closest known relatives and (4) assign putative functions to the sponge bacterial communities using a recently developed predictive metagenomic approach. We observed marked differences in bacterial composition and the relative abundance of the most abundant phyla, classes and orders among sponge species, seawater and sediment. Although all biotopes housed compositionally distinct bacterial communities, there were three prominent clusters. These included (1) both Stylissa species and seawater, (2) X. testudinaria and H. erectus and (3) sediment. Bacterial communities sampled from the same biotope, but different environments (based on proximity to the coast) were much more similar than bacterial communities from different biotopes in the same environment. The biotope thus appears to be a much more important structuring force than the surrounding environment. There were concomitant differences in the predicted counts of KEGG orthologs (KOs) suggesting that bacterial communities housed in different sponge species, sediment and seawater perform distinct functions. In particular, the bacterial communities of both Stylissa species were predicted to be enriched for KOs related to chemotaxis, nitrification and denitrification whereas bacterial communities in X. testudinaria and H. erectus were predicted to be enriched for KOs related to the toxin-antitoxin (TA) system, nutrient starvation and heavy metal export.

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Section: Predictive Functional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and Predictive Functional Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Seawater, Sediment and Sponges in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia

et al. 2015

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“…This study tried to evaluate chemical defense mechanisms in eight different sponge species. Experiments were run under controlled conditions to exclude multiple factors in the field that increase chemical variability [ 45 ]. Specifically, we tested for presence of constitutive defenses, induced and activated defenses by examining the feeding deterrence and antimicrobial activity of sponge extracts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and Mechanisms of Dynamic Chemical Defenses in Tropical Sponges

Rohde¹,

Nietzer²,

Schupp³

2015

PLoS ONE

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Sponges and other sessile invertebrates are lacking behavioural escape or defense mechanisms and rely therefore on morphological or chemical defenses. Studies from terrestrial systems and marine algae demonstrated facultative defenses like induction and activation to be common, suggesting that sessile marine organisms also evolved mechanisms to increase the efficiency of their chemical defense. However, inducible defenses in sponges have not been investigated so far and studies on activated defenses are rare. We investigated whether tropical sponge species induce defenses in response to artificial predation and whether wounding triggers defense activation. Additionally, we tested if these mechanisms are also used to boost antimicrobial activity to avoid bacterial infection. Laboratory experiments with eight pacific sponge species showed that 87% of the tested species were chemically defended. Two species, Stylissa massa and Melophlus sarasinorum, induced defenses in response to simulated predation, which is the first demonstration of induced antipredatory defenses in marine sponges. One species, M. sarasinorum, also showed activated defense in response to wounding. Interestingly, 50% of the tested sponge species demonstrated induced antimicrobial defense. Simulated predation increased the antimicrobial defenses in Aplysinella sp., Cacospongia sp., M. sarasinorum, and S. massa. Our results suggest that wounding selects for induced antimicrobial defenses to protect sponges from pathogens that could otherwise invade the sponge tissue via feeding scars.

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“…C. solandri is an abundant benthic fish species in the Indo-Pacific region and known to feed on a variety of marine invertebrates such as poriferans, ascidians, small shrimps, polychaetes and benthic algae [ 86 , 87 ]. Thus, C. solandri has been considered as a model fish predator for testing the feeding deterrence of benthic organisms [ 86 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ]. For the FA, 17 individuals were kept separately in 100 L tanks and fed routinely to avoid any preference patterns [ 92 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the FA, 17 individuals were kept separately in 100 L tanks and fed routinely to avoid any preference patterns [ 92 ]. The feeding assays were conducted as described in Rohde et al 2012 [ 91 ] and Helber et al, 2017 [ 93 ] (adapted from Pawlik 1995). In short, the artificial diet consisted of the natural volumetric concentration of dried crude extract of 1.5 mL sea cucumber tissue, 50 mg alginic acid and 75 mg freeze-dried squid mantel topped with distilled water to reach a final volume of 1.5 mL [ 94 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

et al. 2020

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Sea cucumbers are slow-moving organisms that use morphological, but also a diversecombination of chemical defenses to improve their overall fitness and chances of survival. Sincechemical defense compounds are also of great pharmaceutical interest, we pinpoint the importanceof biological screenings that are a relatively fast, informative and inexpensive way to identify themost bioactive organisms prior to further costly and elaborate pharmacological screenings. In thisstudy, we investigated the presence and absence of chemical defenses of 14 different sea cucumberspecies from three families (Holothuriidae, Stichopodidae and Synaptidae) against ecologicalfactors such as predation and pathogenic attacks. We used the different sea cucumber crudeextracts as well as purified fractions and pure saponin compounds in a portfolio of ecologicalactivity tests including fish feeding assays, cytotoxicity tests and antimicrobial assays againstenvironmental pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, we quantified andcorrelated the concentrations of sea cucumber characteristic saponin compounds as effectivechemical defensive compounds in all 14 crude extracts by using the vanillin–sulfuric acid test. Theinitial results revealed that among all tested sea cucumber species that were defended against atleast one ecological threat (predation and/or bacterial attack), Bohadschia argus, Stichopuscholoronotus and Holothuria fuscopunctata were the three most promising bioactive sea cucumberspecies. Therefore, following further fractionation and purification attempts, we also testedsaponin-containing butanol fractions of the latter, as well as two purified saponin species from B.argus. We could demonstrate that both, the amount of saponin compounds and their structurelikely play a significant role in the chemical defense strategy of the sea cucumbers. Our studyconcludes that the chemical and morphological defense mechanisms (and combinations thereof)differ among the ecological strategies of the investigated holothurian species in order to increasetheir general fitness and level of survival. Finally, our observations and experiments on thechemical ecology of marine organisms can not only lead to a better understanding of their ecologyand environmental roles but also can help in the better selection of bioactiveorganisms/compounds for the discovery of novel, pharmacologically active secondary metabolitesin the near future.

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Spatial Variability in Secondary Metabolites of the Indo-Pacific Sponge Stylissa massa

Cited by 46 publications

References 69 publications

Composition and Predictive Functional Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Seawater, Sediment and Sponges in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia

Composition and Predictive Functional Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Seawater, Sediment and Sponges in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia

Prevalence and Mechanisms of Dynamic Chemical Defenses in Tropical Sponges

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

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