Marine sponge metagenomics
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| Abstract |
The sponge is one of the oldest multicellular invertebrates in the world. Because of its special pore canal structure and characteristics of filter feeding, a large amount of microorganisms adhere to it. After hundreds of thousands of years’ evolution, they form a kind of symbiosis relationship. A rather large amount of research shows the great diversity of microbes related to sponges using 16S rRNA (ribosomal ribonucleic acid) or 18S rRNA gene-based methods. Just in recent decades, many bioactive compounds have been separated from sponges. However, more and more studies confirm that those bioactive compounds do not derive from the sponges themselves but rather their symbionts. Considering that most of the microbes in sponges are unculturable, the culture-dependent approach is greatly limited. Using metagenomics, it may be possible to produce enzymes of special characteristics and secondary metabolites with biotechnological application from the sponge derived uncultured microbes. What is more, metagenomics can also serve as a way to understand the community structure, as well as the metabolism and function of a complex microbial community. This chapter focuses on techniques and advances in marine bacterial metagenomics, using sponge metagenomics as an example. Several aspects will be considered: The background and problems of sponge research (Sect. 17.1), the principle of metagenomics and related techniques (Sect. 17.2), the application and latest progress in sponge metagenomics (Sect. 17.3), and future perspectives (Sect. 17.4). |
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