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. 2017 Jul 10;12(7):e0176968.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176968. eCollection 2017.

Brackish habitat dictates cultivable Actinobacterial diversity from marine sponges

Gregory A Ellis  1 , Chris S Thomas  1 , Shaurya Chanana  1 , Navid Adnani  1 , Emily Szachowicz  1 , Doug R Braun  1 , Mary Kay Harper  2 , Thomas P Wyche  1 , Tim S Bugni  1
Affiliations

Brackish habitat dictates cultivable Actinobacterial diversity from marine sponges

Gregory A Ellis et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Bacterial communities associated with marine invertebrates such as sponges and ascidians have demonstrated potential as sources of bio-medically relevant small molecules. Metagenomic analysis has shown that many of these invertebrates harbor populations of Actinobacteria, many of which are cultivable. While some populations within invertebrates are transmitted vertically, others are obtained from the environment. We hypothesized that cultivable diversity from sponges living in brackish mangrove habitats have associations with Actinobacterial populations that differ from those found in clear tropical waters. In this study, we analyzed the cultivable Actinobacterial populations from sponges found in these two distinct habitats with the aim of understanding the secondary metabolite potential. Importantly, we wanted to broadly evaluate the potential differences among these groups to guide future Actinobacterial collection strategies for the purposes of drug discovery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Actinobacteria genera isolated from brackish water sponges.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Actinobacteria genera isolated from clear tropical waters.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Phylogenetic tree of Streptomyces spp.
Fig 4
Fig 4. PCA of streptomyces spp.
The top figure highlights strains in biological duplicate as denoted by the shapes and colors. The bottom figure distinguishes between brackish/clear isolates.
Fig 5
Fig 5. PCA of all bacterial strains.
95% confidence intervals are indicated by shaded area. (A) Samples are indicated based on clear [C] or brackish [B] water collection sites. (B) Samples are indicated based on bacterial genus: Solwaraspora [Sol], Micromonospora [Mic], Streptomyces [Str], or Verrucosispora [Ver]. Note: Streptomyces spp. were processed differently than the other three genera.
Fig 6
Fig 6. PLS-DA analysis of strains based on water.
Samples are indicated based on clear [C] or brackish [B] water collection sites. 95% confidence intervals are indicated by shaded area. Note: Streptomyces spp. were processed differently than the other three genera.
Fig 7
Fig 7. PLS-DA where groups were based on the bacterial genus.
Samples are indicated based on bacterial genus: Solwaraspora [Sol], Micromonospora [Mic], Streptomyces [Str], or Verrucosispora [Ver]. 95% confidence intervals are indicated by shaded area. Note: Streptomyces spp. were processed differently than the other three genera.
Fig 8
Fig 8. PCA scores plot for Micromonospora spp.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Representative sample of the hierarchal cluster of Micromonospora spp.
Isolates collected from sponges of the same genera share similar colors, and clear tropical samples are represented in bold and italic formatting. Full tree is available in S2 Fig.
Fig 10
Fig 10. PCA scores plot for Verrucosispora spp.
Fig 11
Fig 11. Representative sample of the hierarchal cluster of Verrucosispora spp.
Isolates collected from sponges of the same genera share similar colors, and clear tropical samples are represented in bold and italic formatting. Full tree is available in S3 Fig.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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