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In spite of the fact that cells from the phylum Porifera (sponges) contain high levels of telomerase activity, no successful approach to cultivate sponge cells has yet been described. Telomerase is the enzyme which catalyzes the addition of new telomeres onto chromosome ends which have been lost after each round of DNA synthesis. One reason may be seen in the observation that after dissociation the cells lose their telomerase activity. In addition, no nutrients and metabolites have been identified that would stimulate sponge cells to divide. We report here the culture conditions required for the formation of multicellular aggregates from Suberites domuncula from dissociated single cells; they are termed primmorphs. These aggregates, formed in seawater supplemented with antibiotics, have a tissue-like appearance; they have been cultured for more than 5 mo. Cross sections through the primmorphs revealed an …