Actinomycetes from Red Sea Sponges: Sources for Chemical and Phylogenetic Diversity

Marine Drugs

Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen¹  Chen Yang²  Hannes Horn¹  Dina Hajjar²  Timothy Ravasi² 

[1] Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, Würzburg D-97082, Germany; E-Mail:;Division of Chemical & Life Sciences and Engineering and Division of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia; E-Mails:

关键词: PKS I;    PKS II;    NRPS;    Red Sea;    sponges;    actinomycetes;    bioactivity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md12052771

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The diversity of actinomycetes associated with marine sponges collected off Fsar Reef (Saudi Arabia) was investigated in the present study. Forty-seven actinomycetes were cultivated and phylogenetically identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and were assigned to 10 different actinomycete genera. Eight putatively novel species belonging to genera Kocuria, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, and Rhodococcus were identified based on sequence similarity values below 98.2% to other 16S rRNA gene sequences available in the NCBI database. PCR-based screening for biosynthetic genes including type I and type II polyketide synthases (PKS-I, PKS-II) as well as nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) showed that 20 actinomycete isolates encoded each at least one type of biosynthetic gene. The organic extracts of nine isolates displayed bioactivity against at least one of the test pathogens, which were Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, human parasites, as well as in a West Nile Virus protease enzymatic assay. These results emphasize that marine sponges are a prolific resource for novel bioactive actinomycetes with potential for drug discovery.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.