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Harnessing the sponge microbiome for industrial biocatalysts

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Abstract

Within the marine sphere, host-associated microbiomes are receiving growing attention as prolific sources of novel biocatalysts. Given the known biocatalytic potential of poriferan microbial inhabitants, this review focuses on enzymes from the sponge microbiome, with special attention on their relevant properties and the wide range of their potential biotechnological applications within various industries. Cultivable bacterial and filamentous fungal isolates account for the majority of the enzymatic sources. Hydrolases, mainly glycoside hydrolases and carboxylesterases, are the predominant reported group of enzymes, with varying degrees of tolerance to alkaline pH and growing salt concentrations being common. Prospective areas for the application of these microbial enzymes include biorefinery, detergent, food and effluent treatment industries. Finally, alternative strategies to identify novel biocatalysts from the sponge microbiome are addressed, with an emphasis on modern -omics-based approaches that are currently available in the enzyme research arena. By providing this current overview of the field, we hope to not only increase the appetite of researchers to instigate forthcoming studies but also to stress how basic and applied research can pave the way for new biocatalysts from these symbiotic microbial communities in a productive fashion.

Key points

• The sponge microbiome is a burgeoning source of industrial biocatalysts.

• Sponge microbial enzymes have useful habitat-related traits for several industries.

• Strategies are provided for the future discovery of microbial enzymes from sponges.

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Funding

The research was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, grant numbers: 304477/2015-0, 140840/2018-4), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, grant number: 88887.341847/2019-00), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, grant number: E-26/203.320/2017) and Science Foundation Ireland (grant numbers: SSPC-3, 12/RC/2275_2; SSPC-2, 12/RC/2275). This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

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Contributions

BFRO conceived the study, performed the research and analysed the data. BFRO and CMC wrote the manuscript. MSL and ADWD supervised the study and corrected the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruno Francesco Rodrigues de Oliveira.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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de Oliveira, B.F.R., Carr, C.M., Dobson, A.D.W. et al. Harnessing the sponge microbiome for industrial biocatalysts. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 8131–8154 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10817-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10817-3

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