title: A polyphasic approach to the exploration of collagenolytic activity in the bacterial community associated with the marine sponge Cymbastela concentrica.
abstract: Collagen is an important, extracellular structural protein for metazoans and provides a rich nutrient source for bacteria that possess collagen-degrading enzymes. In a symbiotic host system, collagen degradation could benefit the bacteria, but would be harmful for the eukaryotic host. Using a polyphasic approach, we investigated the presence of collagenolytic activity in the bacterial community hosted by the marine sponge Cymbastela concentrica. Functional screening for collagenase activity using metagenomic library clones (227 Mbp) and cultured isolates of sponge's bacterial community, as well as bioinformatic analysis of metagenomic shotgun-sequencing data (106,679 predicted genes) were used. The results show that the abundant members of the bacterial community contain very few genes encoding for collagenolytic enzymes, while some low-abundance sponge isolates possess collagenolytic activities. These findings indicate that collagen is not a preferred nutrient source for the majority of the members of the bacterial community associated with healthy C. concentrica, and that some low-abundance bacteria have collagenase activities that have the potential to harm the sponge through tissue degradation.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Pui Yi
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjelleberg
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044822:Biodiversity; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D017364:Collagenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018093:Gelatinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015723:Gene Library; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D056186:Metagenomics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011161:Porifera / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D003094:Collagen; D017364:Collagenases; D018093:Gelatinases