Sponge-associated fungi are attractive targets for the isolation of bioactive natural products with different pharmaceutical purposes. In this investigation, 20 fungi were isolated from 10 different sponge specimens. One isolate, the fungus Penicillium citrinum strain WK-P9, showed activity against Bacillus subtilis JH642 when cultivated in malt extract medium. One new and three known citrinin derivatives were isolated from the extract of this fungus. The structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, as well as LC-HRMS. Their antibacterial activity against a set of common human pathogenic bacteria and fungi was tested. Compound 2 showed moderate activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis ATCC607 with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 32 µg/mL. Compound 4 exhibited moderate growth inhibition against Bacillus subtilis JH642, B. megaterium DSM32, and M. smegmatis ATCC607 with MICs of 16, 16, and 32 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, weak activities of 64 µg/mL against B. subtilis DSM10 and S. aureus ATCC25923 were observed for compound 4.

Even though the research on the richness and diversity characteristics of microplastics in coral reef ecosystems has received great attention, however, understanding the occurrence, fate, and impact of microplastics in corals remain still poor. The study reported here was aimed to observe the microplastic abundance and distribution on selected life-form corals from habitats receiving different degrees of sedimentation in the Jepara Coastal Waters, Java Sea. Microplastics were sampled from four different locations representing a different level of sedimentations. Four coral life-forms (massive, submassive, folious, and branching) were sampled with two replications at each location in July 2020. In the laboratory, microplastics were extracted and enumerated under fluorescent microscopy. The study demonstrated that the means of microplastics were found to reach 16.00±7.5, 14.25±3.8, 14.80±7.9, and 9.50±3.6 particles kg-1 in the Awur Bay, Kartini Coast, Panjang Island, and Bandengan Coast, respectively. The Awur Bay, the location with the highest sedimentation rate, has the highest microplastic abundance. Statistically, however, there were no significantly different among site locations (F(3,13) = 1.27, p-value = 0.327>0.05). It is indicating that there was no spatial variation in microplastic abundance across sampling site locations. While the means of microplastics in the coral life-forms of massive, submassive, folious, and branching corals were 9.75±6.6, 9.50±3.3, 11.50±4.5, and 17.75±2.3 particles kg-1, respectively. One-way ANOVA statistical analyses showed that there was no significant difference in microplastic abundance among coral life-forms (F(3,10) = 2.12, p-value = 0.161>0.05). Even there was no significant difference among coral life-forms, however, microplastics on the branching coral lifeform showed a strong tendency to increase. The black microplastics were the primary color, and the fiber shape is the dominant type of microplastics found in all locations. This study contributes novel information on microplastic occurrence and composition in different coral life-forms. Besides, our results provide insights on the role of environmental filters in governing the distribution, abundance, and diversity of microplastics on habitats receiving different degrees of sedimentation.

Irrational used of antibiotic in several decades ago causing resistant in bacteria and decreasing the cure rate of infectious diseases. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli is known to cause various of infectious diseases such as urinary tract infection, nosocomial bloodstream infection, meningitis, bacteraemia, and gastrointestinal disease. Marine sponge-associated fungi have potential as source of new compound to combat MDR E. coli. The aims of this research were to isolate marine sponge-assosiated fungi, to screen potential fungi against MDR E. coli, to identify the potential fungi and its host sponge. There were 29 marine sponge-associated fungi successfully isolated from 9 sponges. Among 29 sponge-associated fungi screened, there were 7 isolates showed antibacterial activity against MDR E. coli. The best inhibition zone produced by MPS 14.1/MT 02 and MPS 14.3/MT 04 from sponge PP.SP.16.14. According to fungi identification result fungus MPS 14.1/MT 02 was identified as Trichoderma asperellum while MPS 14.3/MT 04 was identified as Trichoderma reesei. Sponge identification leaded the PP.SP.16.14 as Cinachyrella sp.

Ayuningrum D, Sabdaningsih A, Jati OE. 2021. Screening of actinobacteria-producing amylolytic enzyme in sediment from Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) ponds in Rembang District, Central Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 1819-1828. Coastal environments are dynamic places where various activities such as aquaculture take place. Waste from intensive aquaculture contains high amounts of organic material that negatively affect the pond system as well as the surrounding environment. Bioremediation using hydrolytic enzymes from microbes has been widely used as an alternative to remove organic waste because of its lower economic cost and more efficient. Microbes such as Gram-positive actinobacteria are widely known as enzyme producers. This research aimed to isolate actinobacteria from Litopenaeus vannamei pond sediment, to purify and characterize the actinobacteria based on morphological appearance, to conduct screening of amylolytic activity, and to identify the species of actinobacteria through 16S rDNA amplification as well as to construct their phylogenetic tree. Sampling was done in Rembang District, Central Java, Indonesia, with 5 sampling stations consist of 14 sampling points. Thirty-eight pure axenic cultures of actinobacteria were successfully isolated using two different media, namely IM6 and IM8. The IM8 medium promoted the most growth of 24 isolates rather than on the IM6 with only 14 isolates. Based on morphological appearance, most isolates belonged to Streptomyces-like actinomycete bacteria as many as 30 isolates and the rest 8 isolates belonged to mycelium-forming non-Streptomyces actinomycete bacteria. The screening results of amylolytic activity showed that all of the 38 actinobacteria formed halo zone with amylolytic index between 1.31-5.29. Top five highest amylolytic index was found in isolates SA4.1 (IM6), SD1.3 (IM8), SC3.3 (IM8), SC3.3 (IM6) and SC3.2 (IM8). The isolate SC3.3 (IM8) according to BLAST homology, showed a 98% similarity with Streptomyces atacamensis C60. Further research is needed to investigate the potential of isolate SC3.3 (IM8) to reduce the BOD level in the aquatic system as a bioremediator candidate.