Biodiversity assessment of the Lower Mekong Basin: evolutionary novelties in gemmular morphotraits of Genus Corvospongilla (Porifera: Spongillida) with description of a new species from Khorat Plateau, and biogeographic notes.

A new occurrence of the genus Corvospongilla (Porifera: Demospongiae) is recorded from the Southeast Asia freshwater of Khorat Plateau, northeast Thailand. This is the second record of the genus from the Lower Mekong Basin with the discovery the new species Corvospongilla lampaoensis sp. nov.

Biodiversity of Nearctic inland water: discovery of the genus (Porifera, Spongillida, Spongillidae) in the Appalachian Mountains, with biogeographical implications and description of new species.

This paper reports the discovery of a small population of sponges in the Pigeon River of eastern Tennessee, USA, which were morphologically distinct from Spongillida of North America. A morphological comparative analysis resulted in the first Nearctic record of the genus with the description of a new species diverging from all other known species by its unique combinations of diagnostic morphotraits of spicules and gemmules. The new record enlarges the geographic range of the genus which has been known until now only from Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Japan (as an alien species), and from subequatorial Brazil (as subfossil remains).

Relationship between bacterial phylotype and specialized metabolite production in the culturable microbiome of two freshwater sponges.

Microbial drug discovery programs rely heavily on accessing bacterial diversity from the environment to acquire new specialized metabolite (SM) lead compounds for the therapeutic pipeline. Therefore, knowledge of how commonly culturable bacterial taxa are distributed in nature, in addition to the degree of variation of SM production within those taxa, is critical to informing these front-end discovery efforts and making the overall sample collection and bacterial library creation process more efficient. In the current study, we employed MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and the bioinformatics pipeline IDBac to analyze diversity within phylotype groupings and SM profiles of hundreds of bacterial isolates from two Eunapius fragilis freshwater sponges, collected 1.

Collagenic architecture and morphotraits in a marine basal metazoan as a model for bioinspired applied research.

In some Porifera (Demospongiae: Keratosa), prototypes of the connective system are almost exclusively based on collagenic networks. We studied the topographic distribution, spatial layout, microtraits, and/or morphogenesis of these collagenic structures in Ircinia retidermata (Dictyoceratida: Irciniidae). Analyses were carried out on a clonal strain from sustainable experimental mariculture by using light and scanning electron microscopy.

The genus Corvospongilla Annandale, 1911 (Porifera: Demospongiae: Spongillida) from Madagascar freshwater with description of a new species: biogeographic and evolutionary aspects.

We report here the first record of five genera of Spongillida (Porifera, Demospongiae) in both lentic and lotic water of Madagascar and the discovery of a new species of the genus Corvospongilla from the Betsiboka River hydrographic basin. Corvospongilla lemuriensis sp. n.

Minimalist barcodes for sponges: a case study classifying African freshwater Spongillida.

African sponges, particularly freshwater sponges, are understudied relative to demosponges in most other geographical regions. Freshwater sponges (Spongillida) likely share a common ancestor; however, their evolutionary history, particularly during their radiation into endemic and allegedly cosmopolitan groups, is unclear. Freshwater sponges of at least 58 species of 17 genera and four families are described from Central and Eastern Africa, but the diversity is underestimated due to limited distinguishable morphological features.

A first preliminary study of the shallow water sponge fauna from Cyprus Island (Eastern Mediterranean).

Currently, more than 8,500 valid sponge species are reported in the World Porifera Database (http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera/) (van Soest et al.

Long-term experimental farming of (Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida).

Background: The marine sponge was chosen as an experimental model of sustainable shallow-water mariculture in the Sardinian Sea (Western Mediterranean) to provide biomass with high potential in applied research.

Methods: Explants were cultured in four long-term experiments (19 and 31 months at ca. 2.

How Environmental Factors Affect the Production of Guanidine Alkaloids by the Mediterranean Sponge Crambe crambe.

Most marine sponges are known to produce a large array of low molecular-weight metabolites which have applications in the pharmaceutical industry. The production of so-called specialized metabolites may be closely related to environmental factors. In this context, assessing the contribution of factors like temperature, nutrients or light to the metabolomes of sponges provides relevant insights into their chemical ecology as well as the supply issue of natural sponge products.

Natural collagenic skeleton of marine sponges in pharmaceutics: Innovative biomaterial for topical drug delivery.

The growing interest in the use of recyclable and biodegradable natural materials has become a relevant topic in pharmaceutics. In this work, we suggest the use and valorization of natural horny skeleton of marine sponges (Porifera, Dictyoceratida) as bio-based dressing for topical drug delivery. Biomaterial characterization focusing on morpho-functional traits, swelling behavior, fluid uptake performances, glycosaminoglycans content and composition and microbiological quality assessment was carried out to investigate the collagenic skeleton properties.

A new species of Agelas from the Zanzibar Archipelago, western Indian Ocean (Porifera, Demospongiae).

A new sponge species (Demospongiae: Agelasida: Agelasidae) is described from the eastern coast of Unguja Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. Agelas sansibarica sp. n.

Swimming speed alteration in the early developmental stages of Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin as ecotoxicological endpoint.

Behavioral endpoints have been used for decades to assess chemical impacts at concentrations unlikely to cause mortality. With recently developed techniques, it is possible to investigate the swimming behavior of several organisms under laboratory conditions. The aims of this study were: i) assessing for the first time the feasibility of swimming speed analysis of the early developmental stage sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus by an automatic recording system ii) investigating any Swimming Speed Alteration (SSA) on P.

Discovery of living Potamolepidae (Porifera: Spongillina) from Nearctic freshwater with description of a new genus.

We report here the first record of a living Potamolepidae (Cherokeesia n. gen.) from the Nearctic Region and from the northern hemisphere.

Adaptive morpho-traits, taxonomy and biogeography of Metania Gray, 1867 (Porifera: Spongillina: Metaniidae) with the description of a new species from Madagascar.

A comparative analysis of gemmular architecture adaptive morpho-traits at family level is reported for Metaniidae together with the discovery and description of a new species from the River Mangoky (High Plateau), Madagascar. The new Malagasy species, ascribed to Metania for diagnostic traits of the skeleton and the gemmular architecture, differs from all the other known species of the genus in its unique combination of diagnostic traits. Metania madagascariensis sp.

Isolation of hydroxyoctaprenyl-1',4'-hydroquinone, a new octaprenylhydroquinone from the marine sponge Sarcotragus spinosulus and evaluation of its pharmacological activity on acetylcholine and glutamate release in the rat central nervous system.

Three polyprenyl-1',4'-hydroquinone derivatives, heptaprenyl-1',4'-hydroquinone (1), octaprenyl-1',4'-hydroquinone (2), and hydroxyoctaprenyl-1',4'- hydroquinone (3) were isolated from the marine sponge Sarcotragus spinosulus collected at Baia di Porto Conte, Alghero (Italy). Our findings indicate that the compounds isolated from S. spinosulus can significantly modulate the release of glutamate and acetylcholine in the rat hippocampus and cortex and might, therefore, represent the prototype of a new class of drugs regulating glutamatergic and cholinergic transmission in the mammalian central nervous system.

An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae).

The present synthesis focuses on the so called 'horny sponges' recorded from marine caves of the Mediterranean Sea. The main aim is to provide a list of all recorded species, diagnostic keys to their identification up to family and genus level, and exhaustive, formally uniform descriptions at the species level contributing to sharing of information on the faunistics and taxonomy of Mediterranean cave-dwelling species, including habitat preferences. The majority of species was recorded in 105 Mediterranean marine caves hosting four orders of horny sponges belonging to 9 families, 19 genera and 40 species.

Sustainable production of biologically active molecules of marine based origin.

The marine environment offers both economic and scientific potential which are relatively untapped from a biotechnological point of view. These environments whilst harsh are ironically fragile and dependent on a harmonious life form balance. Exploitation of natural resources by exhaustive wild harvesting has obvious negative environmental consequences.

Effects of Agelas oroides and Petrosia ficiformis crude extracts on human neuroblastoma cell survival.

Among marine sessile organisms, sponges (Porifera) are the major producers of bioactive secondary metabolites that defend them against predators and competitors and are used to interfere with the pathogenesis of many human diseases. Some of these biological active metabolites are able to influence cell survival and death, modifying the activity of several enzymes involved in these cellular processes. These natural compounds show a potential anticancer activity but the mechanism of this action is largely unknown.

The marine sponge Chondrilla nucula Schmidt, 1862 as an elective candidate for bioremediation in integrated aquaculture.

The use of sponges for marine bioremediation in a farming scenario has been investigated focusing on Chondrilla nucula. We report experiments examining clearance and retention rates of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Despite low values expressed for clearance tests, C.