Antimicrobial activities in Sarcotragus spinosulus and Crambe crambe (Porifera,
Demospongiae) associated bacteria
Presenter: Perino E.1*, Horta A.2, Manconi R.3, Pronzato R.1,Pedrosa R.2.
1
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita (DISTAV), Università di
Genova, Corso Europa 26, I-16132 Genova, Italy, *erica.perino@unige.it; 2Grupo de
Investigação em Recursos Marinhos (GIRM), ESTM, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria (IPL),
Peniche, Portugal, 3Dip. di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio (Dipnet), Univ. di Sassari,
Via Muroni, 25 - 07100 Sassari, Italy
Background
Marine sponges continue to attract considerable interest both as excellent natural product
sources and as hosts of often highly complex symbiont communities. Current data suggest
that at least some of the bioactive compounds from sponges are of bacterial origin.
Objective
In this study we performed a screening of the potentialities of the Staphylococcus aureus
growth inhibition of Crambe crambe and Sarcotragus spinosulus associated bacteria.
Material and methods
We collected by SCUBA C. crambe and S. spinosulus in the NW Mediterranean Sea. After
collection the epiphytic bacteria were isolated and grown. The bacteria biomasses
obtained were extracted with DCM:MeOH. The antimicrobial potential of the extracts was
evaluated by their ability to inhibit the Staphylococcus aureus growth.
Results Discussion
We tested 55 sponge associated bacteria and 7 of them presented 100% of S. aureus
growth inhibition (1000 µg/ml). The IC50 of four different extracts-induced S. aureus growth
inhibition was lower than 100µg/ml. Furthermore, one extract obtained from one of the
Crambe crambe associated bacteria revealed an IC50 potency of 10µg/ml. These
antimicrobial activities results are very promising, although further analysis will be needed
to assess the molecules involved on this antibacterial effect.