| Summary: | Aging research aims at developing therapies that delay normal aging processes and some related pathologies. Recently, many compounds and extracts from natural products have been shown to slow aging and/or extend lifespan. Marine sponges and their associated microorganisms have been found to produce a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites; however, those from the Southwest of the Indian Ocean are much less studied, especially regarding anti-aging activities. In this study, the microbial diversity of the marine sponge <i>Scopalina hapalia</i> was investigated by metagenomic analysis. Twenty-six bacterial and two archaeal phyla were recovered from the sponge, of which the <i>Proteobacteria</i> phylum was the most abundant. In addition, 30 isolates from <i>S. hapalia</i> were selected and cultivated for identification and secondary metabolites production. The selected isolates were affiliated to the genera <i>Bacillus</i>, <i>Micromonospora</i>, <i>Rhodoccocus</i>, <i>Salinispora</i>, <i>Aspergillus</i>, <i>Chaetomium</i>, <i>Nigrospora</i> and unidentified genera related to the family <i>Thermoactinomycetaceae</i>. Crude extracts from selected microbial cultures were found to be active against seven clinically relevant targets (elastase, tyrosinase, catalase, sirtuin 1, Cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7), Fyn kinase and proteasome). These results highlight the potential of microorganisms associated with a marine sponge from Mayotte to produce anti-aging compounds. Future work will focus on the isolation and the characterization of bioactive compounds.
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