The UNDIP-UCSC campaign to culture chemically prolific gram-negative bacteria from Indonesian Jaspis sponges

Indonesian marine sponges, especially Jaspis cf. coriacea and Jaspis splendens are sources for families of natural products known as the bengamides and jasplakinolides, respectively. Recent research suggests that the biosynthetic origins of these pharmaceutically important compounds may not be the sponges themselves but associated Gram-negative bacteria. Therefore samples of J. cf. coriacea and J. splendens were collected to culture the bacteria responsible for such compounds. Metabolomic analysis was performed on each of the sponges collected to ensure that the bengamides and jasplakinolides were present; therefore ensuring that the biosynthetic machinery required to produce these compounds was intact in the samples. After which Gram-negative bacteria were cultured from the Jaspis sponge samples and a total of 43 unique isolates were obtained spanning 21 taxonomic genera and three taxonomic classes. [GRAPHICS] .