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Taxonomic Composition and Biological Activity of Bacterial Communities Associated with Marine Ascidians from Andaman Islands, India

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Abstract

Marine invertebrates, particularly ascidians, constitute an important source of potential active and biofunctional natural products. The microbial diversity associated with ascidians is little recognized, although these microorganisms play a vital role in marine ecosystems. The objective of this study was to investigate bacterial population diversity in four ascidian samples: Phallusia nigra, Phallusia fumigata, Eudistoma viride, and Rhopalaea macrothorax, collected from the North Bay, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Microbial strains identified up to the species level revealed 236 distinct species/ribotypes out of 298 bacterial strains. Of 298 ascidian-associated bacteria, 72 isolates belong to the class Gammaproteobacteria and the genus Endozoicomonas. The results from this investigation will contribute a broaden knowledge of microbial diversity associated to marine ascidians, and as a promising source for the discovery of new natural products.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatfully acknowledge the financial support given by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Goverenment of India, New Delhi to conduct the survey and research. The authors are thankful to Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai for providing necessary facilities to perform this research.

Funding

The authors received financial support from Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, New Delhi, to conduct the survey and research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atal Centre for Ocean Science and Technology for Islands, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 744103, India

    Balakrishnan Meena, Lawrance Anburajan & Nambali Valsalan Vinithkumar

  2. Department of Marine Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 620024, India

    Kirubakaran Nitharsan

  3. Marine Biotechnology Division, Ocean Science and Technology for Islands Group, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600100, India

    Gopal Dharani

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  1. Balakrishnan Meena
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The research concept and the experiments were executed by BM, LA and KN. NVV and GD analyzed the data and revised the manuscript. All of the authors approved the final manuscript.

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Meena, B., Anburajan, L., Nitharsan, K. et al. Taxonomic Composition and Biological Activity of Bacterial Communities Associated with Marine Ascidians from Andaman Islands, India. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 193, 2932–2963 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-021-03577-x

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