Coral replication

Bioassay-guided fractionation of an aqueous extract from a Philippine Islands collection of the soft coral Lohophytum spp. yielded cembranoid diterpenes, Fig. (3), which exhibited moderate HIV-inhibitory activity in a cell-based in vitro anti-HIV assay [44], while new isomalabaricane triterpenes. Fig. (4), have been isolated from the sponge Stelletta spp. [45]. Other anti-HIV diterpenes also included the dolabellane diterpenes isolated from the Brazilian brown algae Dictyota pfaffi [46] and Dictyota menstrualis [47]. To investigate the effect of these diterpenes in the reverse transcription of the viral genomic RNA, the recombinant HIV-1 RT was assayed in vitro in the presence of each compound. All compounds inhibited the RNA-dependent DNA-polymerase activity of HIV-1 RT and consequently virus replication. 

Although the coral-based paleoclimate records reconstructed to date are impressive, much work remains to be done. It is necessary to develop multiple tracer records from each coral record in order to establish a more comprehensive reconstruction of several concurrent climatic features. In addition, replication of long isotopic and elemental records from multiple sites is invaluable for establishing better signal precision and reproducibility. Coupled with fossil and deep-sea coral records, coral proxy records offer a comprehensive and effective means of reconstructing tropical paleo-climates. 

The HA structure produced by this exchange reaction replicates the porous marine skeleton, including its intercoimected porosity. Hydroxyapatite grown on Porites and Goniopora coral skeleton templates can be used to mimic... 

A similar assay was used to examine the effects of extracts from three soft corals Alcyonium paessleri, Clavularia frankliniana, and Gersemia antarctica, against three species of marine bacteria (Slattery et al. 1995). In this assay, replicate 20-g soft coral samples were extracted in 200 ml of solvent and then diluted to tissue level concentrations. Twenty-five microliters of each soft coral extract or a solvent control were then spotted onto glass microscope slide cover-slips. The coverslips were placed into individual wells of tissue culture plates that contained 2 ml of sterile-filtered seawater seeded with 50 Lil of a bacterial suspension (7.5 x 10 cells/ml). Following a 48-h incubation, the coverslips were washed with sterile-filtered seawater to remove unattached cells and stained with DAPI (4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole). The number of cells in each of five replicate microscope fields per coverslip were counted using epifluorescence microscopy. Bacterial attachment was found in this study to be inhibited by the chloroform extracts of both A. paessleri and G. antarctica and the methanol extract of G. antarctica. The active chloroform extracts did not display antimicro-... 

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