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 biodiversity 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.