Phylogenetic and functional characterization of microbial communities associated with sponges that present bromopyrrole alkaloids and characterization of gene clusters which include nonribossomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)

Abstract

Sponges are evolutionarily successful marine invertebrates that arose in the Precambrian and currently dominate many aquatic ecosystems. They house a complex microbial community which is responsible for the synthesis of a wide range of structurally diverse and biologically active compounds, among which are bromopyrrole alkaloids. Bromopyrrole alkaloids are very important bioactive metabolites in sponges and are particularly abundant in the genus Agelas (Porifera: Demospongiae: Agelasida). Recently bromopyrrole alkaloids were found in the marine sponge, Tedania brasiliensis (Porifera: Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida) endemic to Brazil. Bromopyrole derivatives display anti-malarial, anti-parasitic, anti-cancer activities and act as sponge defenses against fish predation. Since metagenomic studies on sponge-associated microbial diversity show little correlation between host phylogeny and microbiota composition and, on the other hand, metabolic studies indicate functional equivalence in core functions, raising the hypothesis that chemically similar sponges have similar microbial composition, in this project we propose, for the first time and with a novel strategy, to verify by metagenomics the phylogenetic and functional microbial composition of sponges of the genera Agelas and Tedania from the Brazilian coastline and characterize gene clusters that include Nonribossomal Peptide Synthetase (NRPS) which are possibly involved in the biosynthesis of bromopyrrole alkaloids. (AU)