Infectious disease has always been and will continue to be a heavy burden on
human society worldwide. Terrestrial actinobacteria, notable as a source of
antibiotics, have been well investigated in the past. In constrast, marine
actinobacteria, especially sponge-associated species, have received much less
attention and isolates are sparse. With the aim of studying and discovering novel
marine actinobacteria, 11 different species of sponges were collected from the
Central Red Sea in Saudi Arabia and cultured with three different types of media.
16S rRNA gene-sequencing revealed that among all 75 isolated bacterial strains
13 belonged to the order actinomycetales. These 13 actinomycetes fall into four
different families and can be assigned to six different genera. Antibiotic activity
tests using disc diffusion assay were performed against Gram-positive bacteria
(Bacillus sp.), Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli), fungi (Fusarium sp.)
and West Nile virus NS3 protease. Nine strains presented different level of
bioactivity against these pathogens. These findings provide evidence that
actinomycetes are presented in marine sponges and that they have the potential
to be good candidates in the search for new effective antibiotic, antifungal, and
antiviral compounds.
| Date of Award | Jun 2013 |
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| Original language | English (US) |
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| Awarding Institution | - Biological, Environmental Sciences and Engineering
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| Supervisor | Timothy Ravasi (Supervisor) |
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- marine sponges
- actinobacteria
- antibiotic activity