Morphological, Biochemical, and Molecular Identification of Sponge Associated Bacteria and Its Enzymatic Activity

Abstract

Marine sponges are a valuable and an impressive host for new and uncommon actinomycete genera, and targeting these genera in the future could lead to the discovery of novel compounds. Therefore, research into the potential of actinomycetes associated with marine sponges is necessary to determine the potential of sponge-associated bacteria. This research aims to isolate actinomycetes sponge-associated bacteria, identify actinomycetes bacteria from marine sponges with morphological, molecular, biochemical assays, and further screen for their enzymatic potential. The result shows the number of bacterial colonies isolated with ISP-2 medium was lower compared to AIA medium. The result from the enzymatic assays reveals that the bacterial isolate RI.AI.146 has the potential to produce enzymes and hydrolase cellulose and amylase. Based on molecular identification, the isolate RI.AI.146 has high similarity with Bacillus cereus, whereas based on morphological and biochemical tests, the isolate has characteristics of Streptomyces sp