Microbiome of the freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo

Freshwater bryozoans remain understudied in in terms of their microbiomes. Considering that bioactive compounds isolated from bryozoans may originate from bacterial communities associated with the hosts, we aimed at exploring the microbiome of a freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo using genomics and metabolomics. Both culture-dependent and -independent approaches were employed to characterize the bacterial community associated with C. mucedo. A diverse collection of bacterial strains representing 26 genera, including a potentially new one, were isolated from this bryozoan, and genome analyses of representative isolates for each genus revealed considerable potential for secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The secondary metabolomes of both mono- and co-cultures of selected isolates and enriched bryozoan-derived communities were investigated, leading to identification of several known and potentially novel secondary metabolites. This work provides important information regarding the composition of the bacterial community associated with C. mucedo and sets the stage for its further exploration and exploitation for drug discovery. Sequencing was performed at the Joint Microbiome Facility of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna under project IDs JMF-2008-6, JMF-2104-09, JMF-2109-09, JMF-2203-11, and JMF-2307-07.