Bacterial diversity and distribution in Soft Corals and Sponges in the Red Sea

Abstract

The Red Sea has high biodiversity, with at least 266 coral and sponge species. The coral/Sponge holobiont is comprised of the coral/sponge animal and its associated microorganisms consisting of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses. It has been hypothesized that this interaction plays a role in coral/ sponge defense. This study aims to study the bio-diversity of some collected types of sponge and soft coral from Red Sea and to isolate associated bacteria from them. The result includes five types of sponges; Ircinia strobilina, Callyspongia viridis, Suberea spp., Spongia officinalis and Biemna ehrenbergi and five types of soft corals; Heteroxenia fuscescens, Didemnum moseleyi, Lobophytum pauciflorum, Sarcophyton trocheliophorum and Sinularia spp. Twenty two bacterial isolates were isolated from the sponges with 41 % and thirty two bacterial isolates were isolated from soft coral samples with 59 % collected from different Red Sea areas.