Marine natural products invertebrates

The first step in discovering a marine natural product lead compound involves accumulating collections of the source organisms. Ideally the collections would include as many species as possible collected from a large number of sites reflecting the wide diversity of habitats found in the world s oceans. The development of SCUBA and both manned and remotely operated (ROV) submersibles has provided the technology required to effectively collect algae and invertebrate specimens from most marine habitats. Consequently, the major issue... 

Steroid chemistry, the glamor area of natural product research in the years following World War II, was replaced by macrolides, alkaloids, and prostanoids. Sterol chemistry again became exciting when an unanticipated rich diversity of marine invertebrate sterols were isolated, notably from sponges. After pioneering research in Italy, the field was reborn in Carl Djerassi s laboratory at Stanford. As a result, we now have a better and more detailed knowledge of sterol biosynthesis than of any other class of marine natural products. The authors of Chapter 1 are Stanford alumni. 

Goad LJ (1978) The sterols of marine invertebrates. In Scheuer PJ (ed) Marine natural products, vol II. Academic, New York, p 76... 

Marine animals, such as sponges and soft-bodied invertebrates, are well known to synthesize a large number of organohalogens or to harbor microbial symbionts that synthesize these compounds. Many have physiological activities that made them useful as marine natural products. Examples of these are provided in Chapter 28, namely furanone (S5), oroidin (S9), Tyrian purple (S20), spisulosine (S25), and salinosporamide A (S39). 

Faulkner DJ. (1984) Marine natural products Metabolites of marine invertebrates. Nat Prod Rep 1 551-598. 

In the search for bioactive marine secondary metabolites, drugs or drug leads with new modes of action, many invertebrates with new modes of action have been explored and tested in a variety of assays. Many marine natural products were found to be cytotoxic to an assortment of tumor cells, Some parts of the marine natural products were also found to be ichthyotoxic so as to defend themselves. Two examples, out of many, are the latrunculins and sarcophine. ... 

A myriad of structural types are found amongst the secondary metabolites of marine invertebrates. Halogenation is typical of marine natural products, which is not unexpected, given that seawater contains... 

The marine environment clearly holds an enormous amount of potential to provide new leads for the development of treatments for infectious disease and antimalarial compounds in particular. The identification of new structural classes active against the malaria parasite will provide new mechanisms of action and better treatments for resistant strains. Since most malaria-infected regions also possess coastal areas rich in diverse marine invertebrate life, marine natural products provide an opportunity for these areas to utilize endemic resources to combat this devastating disease. 

Paul, V. J., Chemical defenses of benthic marine invertebrates, in Ecological Roles of Marine Natural Products, Paul, V. J., Ed., Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1992, 5. 

Ireland, C. M., Molinski, T. F., Roll, D. M., Zabriskie, T. M., McKee, T. C., Swersey, J. F., and Foster, M. P., Uniqueness of the marine chemical environment categories of marine natural products from invertebrates, in Biomedical Roles of Marine Natural Products, Fautin, D. G., Ed., California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, 1988, 41. 

Cimino, G., De Rosa, S., De Stefano, S., and Sodano, G., Marine natural products new results from Mediterranean invertebrates, Pure Appl. Chem., 58, 375, 1986. 

Faulkner, D.J., Marine natural products metabolites of marine invertebrates, Nat. Prod. Rep., 1, 551, 1984. 

Fusetani, N., Marine natural products influencing larval settlement and metamorphosis of benthic invertebrates, Curr. Org. Chem., 1, 127, 1997. 

In spite of the difficulties reported, model primary culture systems have been established for shallow-water sponges that produce bioactive secondary metabolites. It has been demonstrated that cultured cells can be stimulated to divide by mitogens and retain the ability to synthesize bioactive compounds.115116 These successes suggest that, with a greater understanding of requirements for growth and compound production, invertebrate cell culture may become a viable source for bioactive marine natural products. 

---