Cultivable bacterial community from South China Sea sponge as revealed by DGGE fingerprinting and 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis.

The cultivable bacterial communities associated with four South China Sea sponges-Stelletta tenuis, Halichondria rugosa, Dysidea avara, and Craniella australiensis in mixed cultures-were investigated by microbial community DNA-based DGGE fingerprinting and 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis. Diverse bacteria such as alpha-, gamma-, delta-Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were cultured, some of which were previously uncultivable bacteria, potential novel strains with less than 95% similarity to their closest relatives and sponge symbionts growing only in the medium with the addition of sponge extract. According to 16S rDNA BLAST analysis, most of the bacteria were cultured from sponge for the first time, although similar phyla of bacteria have been previously recognized. The selective pressure of sponge extract on the cultured bacterial species was suggested, although the effect of sponge extract on bacterial community in high nutrient medium is not significant. Although alpha- and gamma-Proteobacteria appeared to form the majority of the dominant cultivable bacterial communities of the four sponges, the composition of the cultivable bacterial community in the mixed culture was different, depending on the medium and sponge species. Greater bacterial diversity was observed in media C and CS for Stelletta tenuis, in media F and FS for Halichondria rugosa and Craniella australiensis. S. tenuis was found to have the highest cultivable bacterial diversity including alpha-, gamma-, delta-Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes, followed by sponge Dysidea avara without delta-Proteobacteria, sponge Halichondria rugosa with only alpha-, gamma-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and sponge C. australiensis with only alpha-, gamma-Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Based on this study, by the strategy of mixed cultivation integrated with microbial community DNA-based DGGE fingerprinting and phylogenetic analysis, the cultivable bacterial community of sponge could be revealed effectively.