Sponges associated bacteria and their potential biotechnological applications

Sponges are one of the simplest and oldest multicellular metazoa, they are primitive sedentary and exclusively aquatic animal that forms close associations with different microbes. Sponge associated microbiomes have a huge role in different fields and identifying these microbiomes could reveal their potential biotechnological application. The bacteriome of eight different sponge species inhabiting the Arabian Gulf, one of the world hottest seas, were investigated using culture dependent and culture independent methods. The amplicon metagenome analysis using MiSeq showed various bacterial groups dominating the different sponge species.