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Sponge–microbe associations and their importance for sponge bioprocess engineering

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Abstract

In recent years, a large diversity of sponge-microbe associations has been described: sponges can harbour archaea, eubacteria (including cyanobacteria), microalgae, fungi and probably also protozoa. The current paper gives a brief overview of the different types of associations and describes the potential influence of symbiotic micro-organisms on bioprocess design for the biotechnological production of sponge-associated natural compounds. It is concluded that the presence of microsymbionts may further complicate the already tedious development of sponge culturing techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Bioprocess Engineering Group, Wageningen University and Researchcenter, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Ronald Osinga

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Riccarton, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, U.K.

    Evelyn Armstrong & J. Grant Burgess

  3. Institute and Museum for Paleontology and Geology, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Friederike Hoffmann & Joachim Reitner

  4. Department of Microbial Ecology, Technical University of Berlin, Franklinstrasse 29, Sekr. OE5, 10587, Berlin, Germany

    Gabriela Schumann-Kindel

Authors
  1. Ronald Osinga
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  2. Evelyn Armstrong
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  3. J. Grant Burgess
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  4. Friederike Hoffmann
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  6. Gabriela Schumann-Kindel
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Osinga, R., Armstrong, E., Grant Burgess, J. et al. Sponge–microbe associations and their importance for sponge bioprocess engineering. Hydrobiologia 461, 55–62 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012717200362

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