ABSTRACT
Until recently, the database was limited. The sponge Theonella swinhoe harbors bacteria which produce cytotoxic swinholides (Bewley et al., 1996). It is not clear whether the host invertebrates or their microbial guests produce the active compounds. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that associated and intracellularly living microorganisms play a key role in providing a wide scope of bioactive metabolites (Renner et al., 1999; Cheng et al., 1999; Engel et al., 2002; Tan et al., 2003). Particularly, bacteria from extreme environment are fascinating candidates in biotechnology. These organisms produce stable enzymes at high temperature of the deep sea vents, at extremely low temperature of arctic and antarctic regions or at high pressure in the deep sea.
