Analysis of chemical communication between sponge and its symbionts and attempts to cultivate productive symbionts

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Frontier research of chemical communications
• Project/Area Number: 17H06403
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Science and Engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Matsunaga Shigeki 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 教授 (60183951)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高田 健太郎 北里大学, 海洋生命科学部, 准教授 (90455353)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: カイメン / 共生 / 微生物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Marine sponge Theonella swinhoei with yellow interior (TSY) and T. swinhoei with white interior (TSW) was each dissociated and fractionated to give more than three species of the symbiotic bacteria Entotheonella from each sponge sample, demonstrating the unreported diversity of the Entotheonella. The fractionated Entotheonella was each subjected to cultivation under a variety of conditions in the presence of the "chemical signal" of the host sponge, but the growth of the bacteria was not observed. On the other hand, the microbiota prepared from a marine sponge Mycale sp. was subjected to the metagenomic analysis, which gave the whole genome data of five symbiotic bacteria, permitting us to identify the bacteria which contained the biosynthetic gene cluster of mycalolides.

Free Research Field

天然物化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

カイメンTheonella swinhoeiおよびMycale sp.に含まれる生物活性物質の生産者と目される共生微生物の分離および同定をおこなった。T. swinhoeiから多数のEntotheonellaを初めて見出し、カイメンにおける化合物生産の原点を明らかにした。また、Mycale sp.から目的化合物の生合成遺伝子を保有するバクテリアの同定をおこなった。これらの発見は、カイメン由来の有用物質の生産機構の解明の一助となり、共生微生物を用いた物質生産への道を開くものである。