title: Monitoring bacterial diversity of the marine sponge Ircinia strobilina upon transfer into aquaculture.
abstract: Marine sponges in the genus Ircinia are known to be good sources of secondary metabolites with biological activities. A major obstacle in the development of sponge-derived metabolites is the difficulty in ensuring an economic, sustainable supply of the metabolites. A promising strategy is the ex situ culture of sponges in closed or semiclosed aquaculture systems. In this study, the marine sponge Ircinia strobilina (order Dictyoceratida: family Irciniidae) was collected from the wild and maintained for a year in a recirculating aquaculture system. Microbiological and molecular community analyses were performed on freshly collected sponges and sponges maintained in aquaculture for 3 months and 9 months. Chemical analyses were performed on wild collected sponges and individuals maintained in aquaculture for 3 months and 1 year. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to assess the complexity of and to monitor changes in the microbial communities associated with I. strobilina. Culture-based and molecular techniques showed an increase in the Bacteroidetes and Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria components of the bacterial community in aquaculture. Populations affiliated with Beta- and Deltaproteobacteria, Clostridia, and Planctomycetes emerged in sponges maintained in aquaculture. The diversity of bacterial communities increased upon transfer into aquaculture.
authors.affiliation: Center of Marine Biotechnology, Columbus Center Suite 236, 701 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA.
authors.forename: Naglaa M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Venkateswara
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Hamann
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Russell T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017753:Ecosystem; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011161:Porifera / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S