The detection of an endosymbiotic yeast in demosponges of the genus Chondrilla described here records the first such association within the phylum Porifera. The symbiont, interpreted as a yolk body in previous ultrastructural studies, is a chitinous-walled fission yeast. Chitin was detected by an immunocytochemical technique that labels its beta-1,4-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues. Abundant sym...

This study investigated patterns of cytoskeletal organization during microsporogenesis in Chondrilla juncea L., an autonomous apomict with a triploid chromosome number (2n = 15). The distribution of microtubules and organelles is not typical. The microtubules do not form a normal phragmoplast and consequently the organelle equatorial plate observed in many taxons is not present. The organelles ...

The Rhodococcus strain WMMA185 was isolated from the marine sponge Chondrilla nucula as part of ongoing drug discovery efforts. Analysis of the 4.44-Mb genome provides information regarding interspecies interactions as pertains to regulation of secondary metabolism and natural product biosynthetic potentials.

C affeoyltartronic acid and other eleven phenolic com pounds were identified in the M eO H extract o f Chondrilla juncea: the flavonoids luteolin, luteolin-7-glucoside, luteolin-7-galactosylglucuronide and quercetin-3-galactoside; the phenolic acids protocatechuic, caffeic, chlorogenic, isochlorogenic and isoferulic and the coum arins cichoriin and aesculetin. The taxonom ­ ic im plications o f...

The palatability of organic chemical extracts from ten of the most abundant sponge species along the Israeli (shallow) coast, eastern Mediterranean Sea (Axinella sp., Axinella polypoides, Chondrilla nucula, Ircinia sp., Psammocinia sp. 1, Psammocinia sp. 2, Psammocinia sp. 3, Psammocinia sp. 4, Sarcotragus sp. and Tetilla sp.) was tested. To examine the generality of the phenomenon, it was eval...