Sponge-associated bacteria of Lakshadweep coral reefs, India: resource for extracellular hydrolytic enzymes

Abstract

Sponges (Phylum: Porifera) is one of the major groups in the Lakshadweep coral reefs. These sponges harbor diverse bacteria with metabolic potentiality. From biodiversity to biotechnological prospecting, scientific investigations related to sponge associated microorganisms have expanded, but remain rather limited to few geographic locations. In this study, culturable bacteria associated with two demosponges viz Dysidea granulosa, Sigmadocia fibulata and the ambient water were screened for commercially important enzymes such as amylase, protease, gelatinase, lipase, deoxyribonucleic, phosphatase and urease. Amylase and phosphatase were the predominant enzymes produced by >80% of sponge-associated bacteria compared to the ambient water. Nearly 50% of the sponge-associated bacteria expressed multiple enzymatic activities (> 4) with variation in the percentage of expression of individual enzymes. More than 65% of the culturable heterotrophic bacteria associated with sponges were Gammaproteobacteria. The order Vibrionales was the main source for multiple enzyme production. Sponge associated bacteria formed more closely related clusters than the water isolates based upon their activity pattern. High recovery of sponge-associated bacteria with multiple enzymatic activities suggest that these versatile bacteria are yet unexploited potential for bioprospecting.

Ecology and biotechnological potential of bacterial community from three marine sponges of the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…The presence of bacteria producing enzymes in sponges was reported early by some authors (Mohapatra et al 2003, Feby andNair 2010). These enzymes have an important role in helping sponges nutrition hydrolyzing complex molecules present in marine environment that sponges cannot directly absorb (Marx et al 2007).…”

“…Mohapatra et al (2003) and Feby and Nair (2010) found amylase as one of the most predominant enzyme produced by bacteria associated to sponges. Our results do not corroborate these data.…”

Antagonistic activity of marine sponges associated Actinobacteria

“…In some reports, it has been explained that marine sponges are filter feeders which allows the microbes to enter inside the body from the surroundings and these may result in the accumulation of many secondary metabolites of microbial origin [8][9][10]. It has been estimated that nearly 40% of sponge tissue volume contains associated microbes, with the population of 10 9 microbial cells per mL of sponge tissue, which is quite large numbers when compared to seawater density [11,12]. Many microorganisms have been associated with sponges, but very limited studies have been carried out in Indian coastal waters, that too particularly about marine Streptomyces [13].…”

Metagenomics-Based Cloning of Amilase-Encoding Genes from the Uncultured Symbiotic Bacteria of a Marine Sponge Theonella swinhoei from Kapoposang Island, South Sulawesi

“…Symbiotic bacteria associated with marine sponges have been proposed as the actual producers of these bioactive compounds (Uria & Piel, 2009). Recently, a number of hydrolytic enzymes have been reported to be secreted by sponge-associated bacteria, exemplified by amylase, protease, deoxyribonuclease, gelatinase, lipase, phosphate, urease (Feby & Nair, 2010), chitosanase (Chasanah et al, 2009), andChitinase (2005). Such extracellular hydrolytic enzymes may mediate the metabolism of complex organic matters, thereby assisting the host in nutrition and various metabolic processes (Marx et al, 2007).…”