Mar. Drugs 2010, 8(3), 399-412; doi:10.3390/md8030399
Article

Isolation, Phylogenetic Analysis and Anti-infective Activity Screening of Marine Sponge-Associated Actinomycetes

Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen 1,2,3 email, Sheila M. Pimentel-Elardo 1,2 email, Amro Hanora 4 email, Mona Radwan 5 email, Soad H. Abou-El-Ela 5 email, Safwat Ahmed 6 email and Ute Hentschel 1,2,* email
1 Julius-von-Sachs-Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, 97082 Würzburg, Germany 2 Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2, 97080 Würzburg, Germany 3 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Minia University, Minia, Egypt 4 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 6 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 29 December 2009; in revised form: 3 February 2010 / Accepted: 5 February 2010 / Published: 26 February 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Actinomycetes: A New Source of Natural Products)
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Abstract: Terrestrial actinomycetes are noteworthy producers of a multitude of antibiotics, however the marine representatives are much less studied in this regard. In this study, 90 actinomycetes were isolated from 11 different species of marine sponges that had been collected from offshore Ras Mohamed (Egypt) and from Rovinj (Croatia). Phylogenetic characterization of the isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing supported their assignment to 18 different actinomycete genera representing seven different suborders. Fourteen putatively novel species were identified based on sequence similarity values below 98.2% to other strains in the NCBI database. A putative new genus related to Rubrobacter was isolated on M1 agar that had been amended with sponge extract, thus highlighting the need for innovative cultivation protocols. Testing for anti-infective activities was performed against clinically relevant, Gram-positive (Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria, fungi (Candida albicans) and human parasites (Leishmania major, Trypanosoma brucei). Bioactivities against these pathogens were documented for 10 actinomycete isolates. These results show a high diversity of actinomycetes associated with marine sponges as well as highlight their potential to produce anti-infective agents.
Keywords: actinomycetes; marine sponges; anti-infective; anti-parasitic; phylogenetic analysis

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Abdelmohsen, U.R.; Pimentel-Elardo, S.M.; Hanora, A.; Radwan, M.; Abou-El-Ela, S.H.; Ahmed, S.; Hentschel, U. Isolation, Phylogenetic Analysis and Anti-infective Activity Screening of Marine Sponge-Associated Actinomycetes. Mar. Drugs 2010, 8, 399-412.

AMA Style

Abdelmohsen UR, Pimentel-Elardo SM, Hanora A, Radwan M, Abou-El-Ela SH, Ahmed S, Hentschel U. Isolation, Phylogenetic Analysis and Anti-infective Activity Screening of Marine Sponge-Associated Actinomycetes. Marine Drugs. 2010; 8(3):399-412.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Abdelmohsen, Usama Ramadan; Pimentel-Elardo, Sheila M.; Hanora, Amro; Radwan, Mona; Abou-El-Ela, Soad H.; Ahmed, Safwat; Hentschel, Ute. 2010. "Isolation, Phylogenetic Analysis and Anti-infective Activity Screening of Marine Sponge-Associated Actinomycetes." Mar. Drugs 8, no. 3: 399-412.

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