| Combining culture-dependent and independent approaches, we investigated for the first time the cultivable fraction of the prokaryotic community associated with the carnivorous sponge Asbestopluma hypogea. The heterotrophic prokaryotes isolated from this tiny sponge were compared between specimens freshly collected from cave and maintained in aquarium. Overall, 67 isolates obtained in pure culture were phylogenetically affiliated to the bacterial phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. This cultivable diversity was lower than the prokaryotic diversity obtained by previous pyrosequencing study and comparable to that of another Mediterranean demosponge, the filter-feeding Phorbas tenacior. Furthermore, using fluorescence in situ... |
