الفهرس 
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Abstract
Red Sea sponges offer a potential for production of novel drugs and prototypes. The genus Negombata is a type of sponges abundant in the Red Sea. This sponge produces latrunculins that have a well documented antitumor activity in addition to antimicrobial and antiviral effects. The sponge Negombata comprises two species; N. magnifica and N. corticata which produce latrunculins A and B, but with different concentrations. The identification of Negombata species is based on morphology and microscopical examination of megascleres of spicules present in the sponges. However, these criteria have proven to be unreliable for identification. Therefore, this study was established to test the accuracy of the spicules based taxonomy against molecular and protein profiles for the two species of Negombata (N. magnifica & N. corticata). About 700 bp of Cytochrome c oxidase I gene was sequenced from the tissues of Negombata species. Additionally total proteins were extracted from Negombata samples collected from different locations at different times and subjected to SDS-PAGE. Characteristic protein profiles were obtained for both species. The data obtained from Cytochrome c oxidase I gene sequencing and protein profiles can reliably differentiate between different species of Negombata in the Red Sea.