ORCID

Abstract

The deep sea is a largely unexplored extreme environment supporting a diverse biological community adapted to low temperatures and high pressures. Such environments support microbial life that may be a source of novel antibiotics and other drugs. Whilst this is often the case, many species with bioactive capabilities may be missed with traditional culturing methods. In this study, a total of 16 different concentrations and types of media were employed, to culture 389 bacterial isolates using Dilution to Extinction methods and Actinobacteria Directed Cultivation techniques. This generated 72 (18.6%) isolates with narrow and broad-spectrum activity against ESKAPE pathogens including Escherichia coli (E. coli), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci. We also report that an early-stage ‘One Strain Many Compounds’ approach can reveal a greater number of bioactive isolates that otherwise would have been missed; 12 isolates initially deemed ‘inactive’ were seen to exhibit activity towards S. aureus and/or E. coli. We emphasize the importance of a thorough initial screening method to capture bioactive isolates and show how selecting only morphologically distinct isolates for screening may result in species with promising bioactivity being overlooked. Our findings justify on-going investigation of Pheronema sponges for bioactive microbiota.

Publication Date

2025-11-07

Publication Title

FEMS Microbes

Volume

6

Acceptance Date

2025-01-01

Deposit Date

2025-11-13

Funding

This research was made possible due to a University of Plymouth Postgraduate Research Studentship funded by the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, with support from the School of Biomedical Sciences (to support J.C.). G.G.J. was supported by South Africa-UK Antibiotic Drug Discovery Hub (ADD Hub). ADD Hub research reported in this publication was supported by the South African Medical Research Council with funds received from the Newton Fund through the UKRI Medical Research Council (awarded to M.U. and R.D.; Grant Ref: AMR DD 96815). Sponge samples, including those shown in the Featured Image and in Figure 1, were collected as part of the Deep Links project funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/K011855/1). K.H.’s time was funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), One Ocean Hub (Grant Ref: NE/S008950/1).

Keywords

antimicrobial, sponge, biodiscovery, deep sea, microbiome

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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