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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.37, 295-305
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
295
Research Article Open Access
Comparative Ultrastructural and Biochemical Studies of Four Demosponges
from Gulf of Mannar, India
Ramjee Pallela
1,2
, Venkateswara Rao Janapala
1
1. Toxicology Unit, Biology Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad-500007. India
2. Synthetic Biology and Biofuels Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067. India
Corresponding author email: rpallela@gmail.com; jvraoiict@gmail.com
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.37 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0037
Received: 04 Jun., 2013
Accepted: 03 Jul., 2013
Published: 22 Jul., 2013
Copyright
©
2013 Pallela and Janapala., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Pallela and Janapala, 2013, Comparative Ultrastructural and Biochemical Studies of Four Demosponges from Gulf of Mannar, India, Indonesia, International
Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.37 295
-
305 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0037)
Abstract
Marine sponge explorations at
Gulf of Mannar (GoM), India in the past few years (2003-2009) revealed around forty
sponge species that lead to various comprehensive studies on chemicobiological molecules including collagens and their applications.
Basing on the preliminary evaluations on collagen content, four marine sponges
Hyattella cribriformis
,
Fasciospongia cavernosa
,
Callyspongia fibrosa
and
Dysidea fragilis
belong to the families Spongiidae, Thorectidae, Callyspongiidae and Dysideidae of the
class Demospongiae, were chosen for macromolecular and micro-anatomical comparison. Microscopic examinations were performed
to understand the form and arrangement of skeletal components in each sponge, where unique skeletal composition and spongin
distribution is typical for all the sponges except
D. fragilis
, which is highly embedded with diversified oxeae. Biochemical analyses
were performed to resolve the macromolecular content for each sponge species. Sponge
D. fragilis
was found to possess
less protein
content (57.26±3.36 mg/g freeze-dried sponge wt) when compared to other sponges and significantly,
C. fibrosa
possess high protein
(209.55±9.53 mg/g) and other macromolecular contents, except pentose (24.12±1.21 mg/g). Different forms of collagens
viz.,
Acid
soluble (AS), salt soluble (SS) and insoluble (Ins) collagens are estimated to understand the variation in collagen make up in their
respective tissues. The higher collagen content in
C. fibrosa
could propose to use this species as a potential model for targeting
collagenous molecules towards human health benefits.
Keywords
Marine sponges; Demospongiae; Biochemical; Collagen; Electron microscopy; Gulf of Mannar
Introduction
Sponges (Phylum: Porifera) are one of the better-known,
diverse multi-cellular invertebrates diverged from the
common ancestor of monophyletic origin, Eumetazoa
(Müller et al., 2006; Ereskovsky et al., 2010).
Although phylogenetically crucial among all the
sponges of Porifera, class Demospongiae has been
overlooked for various anatomical and developmental
studies (Brusca and Brusca, 2003). Connective tissue
in Demosponges is found to be well developed and
typically forms a complex and often elegant skeleton,
whose rigidity varies widely among species and
growth forms. The skeleton of the Demosponges was
formed by gelatinous mesohyl supported with fine
collagen fibers and/or a collagenous matrix (spongin)
embedded with mineral spicules or oxeae. Included in
the class are the bath sponges, which obviously lack
spicules, but have a well-developed spongin skeleton.
With respect to their body organization, cell
differentiation and embryogenesis, the representatives
of Porifera are characterized as model systems due to
their pronounced plasticity in the determination of cell
lineages (Koziol et al., 1998). These simple organisms
possess numerous structural elements like collagen
that are involved in cell adhesion and recognition,
similar to the characteristics of more complex animals
(Boute et al., 1996; Fernàndez-Busquets, 2008; Rao et
al., 2011; Pallela et al., 2012).
The composition and analyses of various macromolecular
and biochemical content of each sponge species is
very valid in choosing potential candidate of interest,
because the spicule formation is dependent on the
apposition and deposition of macromolecules like
protein (spongin/collagen), lipids, carbohydrates etc.
(Aizenberg et al., 1996). In addition, detailed
morphological studies that demosponges infer a
considerable polymorphism within the species by