Sponge-associated fungal diversity of Bidong archipelago. Marine sponges

Prokaryotic microbial communities associated with sponges have been well studied by both cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches, whereas eukaryotic microbial such as sponge-associated fungi are the last frontier of microbial diversity yet to be fully characterized. The research on sponge-associated fungi is gaining momentum because of, i) sponge-associated fungi produce the most diverse and novel bioactive compounds and ii) the ecology of sponge-associated fungi still remains a mystery. Henceforth, the goals of this research are to explore the fungal diversity of marine sponges from Bidong archipelago, Malaysia based on molecular analysis.