Antibacterial Activities of Bacteria Isolated from the Marine Sponges Isodictya compressa and Higginsia bidentifera Collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa

• Published in: Marine drugs Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 47
• Main Authors: Matobole, Relebohile, Van Zyl, Leonardo, Parker‐Nance, Shirley, Davies‐Coleman, Michael, Trindade, Marla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.02.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - isolation & purification; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; antimicrobial; Bacteria - chemistry; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Base Sequence; Bays; Bioactive compounds; Biodiversity; Biological Products - isolation & purification; Biological Products - pharmacology; Biota; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - drug effects; E coli; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - drug effects; Growth conditions; Harbors; Higginsia; Higginsia bidentifera; Isodictya; Isodictya compressa; Marine; Marine environment; marine sponge; natural products; Porifera - microbiology; South Africa; Species richness; Symbiosis; South Africa; PSW, South Africa, Algoa Bay; antimicrobial; natural products; Higginsia bidentifera; marine sponge; Isodictya compressa
• ISSN: 1660-3397; 1660-3397
• DOI: 10.3390/md15020047

Due to the rise in multi‐drug resistant pathogens and other diseases, there is renewed interest in marine sponge endosymbionts as a rich source of natural products (NPs). The South African marine environment is rich in marine biota that remains largely unexplored and may represent an important source for the discovery of novel NPs. We first investigated the bacterial diversity associated with five South African marine sponges, whose microbial populations had not previously been investigated, and select the two sponges (Isodictya compressa and Higginsia bidentifera) with highest species richness to culture bacteria. By employing 33 different growth conditions 415 sponge‐associated bacterial isolates were cultured and screened for antibacterial activity. Thirty‐five isolates showed antibacterial activity, twelve of which exhibited activity against the multi‐drug resistant Escherichia coli 1699, implying that some of the bioactive compounds could be novel. Genome sequencing of two of these isolates confirmed that they harbour uncharacterized biosynthetic pathways that may encode novel chemical structures.