Demosponges

Reiswig, H. M. (1971). Particle feeding in natural populations of three marine demosponges, Biol. Bull., 141, 568-591. 

These ideas have been expanded in an ecological and evolutionary perspective for land plants (Gottlieb 1998). In the animal kingdom, cladograms based on the distribution of natural products have been set up for demosponges (Andersen 1996). 

Lakes, rivers, swamps, and marshes - common in temperate areas - contribute little to the diversity of natural products. Abundant dull-green grass and dull-colored fish and moUusks characterize lakes and rivers, in contrasts with the vivid colors of tropical fish and seaweeds. Haplosclerid sponges are occasionally abundant in freshwater, but their secondary metabolism is limited to demospongic acids (Dembisky 1994), in contrast with the variety of metabolites from marine sponges in the same order. Where not for cyanobacteria (which are as rich of unusual metabolites as the marine strains), tropical amphibians, and aquatic fimgi, freshwater ecosystems would have passed unnoticed in this book. 

Two groups of organisms from the North Pacific have been particularly well explored, microorganisms (actinomycetes, dinoflagellates, and filamentous fimgi) and shallow water demosponges, mainly in the orders Lithistida, Choristida, Haplosclerida, and Nepheliospongida. 

The Zealandic marine area has been extensively explored, affording several unusual metabolites (Chart 7.10.A/PO). Alkaloids bearing a macrocarbocycle are produced by dinoflagellates. Red seaweeds give macrocyclic ethers. Demosponges are the source of both pateamine A, a strongly... 

In contrast, the biosynthesis of aplasmomycin in the sea and boromycin on land are expected to follow much the san pathways since actinomycetales are involved in both cases (Chart 8.3.FA/PO). Macrolactams are common metabolites in actinomycetales (Chart 8.3.FA/PO), which, as symbionts, may accoimt for the presence of these metabolites also in marine demosponges. 

Aiello, A. Fattorusso, E. Menna, M. Pansini, M. (1996) The chemistry of the demosponge Dysideafragilis from the lagoon of Venice. Bioctem. System. Ecol., 24, 37-42. 

D Ambrosio, M. GuerriCTO, A. Dd)itus, C. Ribes, O. Pi a, F. (1993) On the novel free porphyrins corallistin B, C, D, and E. Isolation from the demosponge Corallisles sp. of the Coral Sea and reactivity of their nickel(II) complexes toward formylating agents. Helv. Chim. Acta, 76, 1489-96. 

D Ambrosio M, Guerriero A, Chiasera G, Pietra F, Tato M (1996) Epinardins A-D, New Pyrroloiminoquinone Alkaloids of Undetermined Deep-Water Green Demosponges from Pre-Antarctic Indian Ocean. Tetrahedron 52 8899... 

The demosponge subclasses Tetractinomorpha and Ceractinomorpha are primarily defined by oviparous or viviparous larval development, respectively. This division is the subject of some dispute as there have been indications that the reproductive mode may be ecologically dependent and thus not a stable character for classification. There are 12 orders in the subclasses Tetractinomorpha and Ceractinomorpha, with the largest number of metabolites reported from the orders Halichondrida (424), Haplosclerida (489), and Dictyoceratida (663). 

Van Soest, R. W. M., Demosponge higher taxa classification re-examined, in Fossil and Recent Sponges, Reitner, J. and Keupp, H., Eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1991, 54. 

Levi, C. and Levi, P, Embryogenese de Chondrosia reniformis (Nardo), demosponge ovipaire, et transmission des bacteries symbiotiques, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zoologie, (12) 18, 367, 1976. 

Rigby J. K. (1991) Evolution of Paleozoic heterocalcareous sponges and demosponges-patterns and records. In Fossil and Recent Sponges (eds. J. Reitner and H. Keupp). Springer, Berlin, pp. 83-101. 

Hansen etal. (1995) exposed the marine demosponge Halichondria panicea to dissolved copper concentrations ranging from 0.45 (control) to 1000 tg L for 14 days. 

Isol. from an unidentified marine demosponge. Oil. Opt. rotn. too small to measure. 

---