Bacterial diversity associated with the Caribbean tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata

The Caribbean tunicate, Ecteinascidia turbinata produces the anti-cancer agent ET-743 that could well be a metabolite of an associated bacterial strain. This current study aims at the analysis of bacteria that are persistently and specifically associated with this invertebrate. Utilizing techniques...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 2007-08, Vol.92 (2), p.155-164
Main Authors: Pérez-Matos, Ana E, Rosado, William, Govind, Nadathur S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteria
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Caribbean Region
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
DNA, Ribosomal - genetics
Ecteinascidia turbinata
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic Variation
Invertebrates
Marine
Metabolism. Enzymes
Metabolites
Microbiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Urochordata - microbiology
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Summary:The Caribbean tunicate, Ecteinascidia turbinata produces the anti-cancer agent ET-743 that could well be a metabolite of an associated bacterial strain. This current study aims at the analysis of bacteria that are persistently and specifically associated with this invertebrate. Utilizing techniques such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of bacteria from E. turbinata collected from different locations in the Caribbean Sea, we report here the identification of five possible persistently associated bacteria. Of these, only one organism, Candidatus Endoecteinascidia frumentensis, was found specifically associated to E. turbinata from the Caribbean and has also been found to be associated with E. turbinata from the Mediterranean. These experiments suggest that assessment of bacterial diversity associated with invertebrates from different geographical sites might be an effective way of identifying persistently and specifically associated bacteria.
ISSN:0003-6072
1572-9699
DOI:10.1007/s10482-007-9143-9