Breakthrough in marine invertebrate cell culture: Sponge cells divide rapidly in improved nutrient medium

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Conkling, Megan, Hesp, Kylie, Munroe, Stephanie, Sandoval, Kenneth, Martens, Dirk E, Sipkema, Detmer, Wijffels, Rene, Pomponi, Shirley A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Rapid Cell Division; Invertebrate Cell Culture; European Union; Horizon 2020; Deep-sea Sponge Ground Ecosystems of the North Atlantic: An integrated approach towards their preservation and sustainable exploitation; SponGES; Grant Agreement No 679849; BluePharmTrain; Grant Agreement No 607786; Diaz; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/3548979; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53643-y

ABSTRACT. Sponges (phylum porifera) are among the oldest Metazoa and considered critical to understanding animal evolution and development. They are also the most prolific source of marine-derived chemicals with pharmaceutical relevance. Cell lines are important tools for research in many disciplines, and have been established for many organisms, including freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates. Despite many efforts over multiple decades, there are still no cell lines for marine invertebrates. In this study, we report a breakthrough: we demonstrate that an amino acid-optimized nutrient medium stimulates rapid cell division in 9 sponge species. The fastest dividing cells doubled in less than 1 hour. Cultures of 3 species were subcultured from 3 to 5 times, with an average of 5.99 population doublings after subculturing, and a lifespan from 21 to 35 days. Our results form the basis for developing marine invertebrate cell models to better understand early animal evolution, determine the role of secondary metabolites, and predict the impact of climate change to coral reef community ecology. Furthermore, sponge cell lines can be used to scale-up production of sponge-derived chemicals for clinical trials and develop new drugs to combat cancer and other diseases. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This research was supported by the European Union Marie Curie Grant (ITN-2013-BluePharmTrain-607786) (to D.S.), the European Union Horizon 2020 Project SponGES (grant agreement No. 679848) (to D.S., S.P., D.M.), the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation, Aquaculture and Save Our Seas Specialty License Program (to S.P.), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (award number NA14OAR43202600 (to S.P.). This document reflects only the authors' views; sponsors are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. We thank Dr. M. Cristina Diaz (HBOI-FAU) and Dr. Patricia Blackwelder (Nova Southeastern University) for ...