Objective "This proposal deals with the cultivation of the symbiotic bacteria that are associated with marine sponges. Marine sponges belong to richest and most diverse organisms with respect to their symbiotic microbial population. In addition, marine sponges belon g to the most interesting natural sources of metabolites with anticancer activity. From a number of the most promising metabolites it has been established that they are actually produced by the bacterial symbionts. Currently, less than 1 % of the symbionts can be cultured, and herein lies the challenge. Up to now, attempts to culture these bacteria have been limited to standard cultivation on marine agar plates. For this project a systematic approach for the cultivation of these bacteria is proposed. The mi croenvironments inside the sponge (the mesohyl [=the space between the exo- and endopinacoderm that is consolidated with collagen fibres and silicious spicules], channels and the outer surface), where the bacteria reside, will be mimicked. This will be don e by testing a matrix of cultivation set-ups and environmental conditions in order to cultivate as many different symbionts as possible. Cultivation set-ups that will be assessed are for example marine agar plates coated with sponge collagen and lectins to simulate the mesohyl or a hollow fibre-type of bioreactors to mimic the sponge channels. Environmental conditions that will be tested are for example hyperbaric and anaerobic conditions that occur at certain places of the sponge mesohyl, or the addition o f specific bacterial signal molecules, such as acyl homoserine lactone.The special focus in this project will be on the cultivation of the bacterial population of the marine sponge Axinella corrugata, the producer of the potent anticancer molecule stevensi ne. Stevensine is suspected to be a product of a symbiotic bacterium and research effort will be invested to identify this strain and optimise its cultivation to produce significant amounts of the product." Fields of science engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationbioreactorsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiological behavioural sciencesethologybiological interactions Keywords bacterium cancer cultivation sponge stevensine symbiosis Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.2 - Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowships (OIF) Call for proposal FP6-2004-MOBILITY-6 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships Coordinator CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS Address Serrano 117 Madrid Spain See on map Links Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY United States EU contribution € 0,00 Address Department of chemical engineering Berkeley, ca See on map Links Website Opens in new window
