Note
The marine sponge Axinella corrugata is being developed as a model organism for in vitro marine invertebrate research. Molecular genetics methods such as DNA fingerprinting [amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP)] and single-locus DNA sequence analyses were applied to this model to meet the primary objective of identifying positive A. corrugata–specific molecular markers that will aid in verifying cell identity in vitro and distinguish sponge cells from potential microbial contaminants.