Purple sponge

Purple sponge (Haliclona permollis), a gray to pale violet encrusting form, grows on rocks and algae. Sometimes purple sponge develops interconnected, raised branches that spread to 4 inches (10 cm) and stand 1 inch tall (25 mm). 

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). 

In the past decade, a few examples of benzoannulated carbazole ring systems were found in nature as marine products. In 1993, Chan et al. reported a novel marine benzocarbazole alkaloid, purpurone (281) from the marine sponge lotrochota sp. in its racemic form. Purpurone, as indicated by its name, is purple in color. This represents the first example of a benzocarbazole alkaloid with a biphenylene quinone methide functionality. The isolate showed ATP-citrate lyase (ACL) inhibitory activity (247). 

E. Marchand10 has reported the presence of. traces of bromine in rain and snow. The ashes of many sea weeds and sea animals contain bromine—thus, dried Fucus vesiculosus contains 0 682 per cent, of bromine.11 Bromine has been reported in human urine, salt herrings, sponges, and cod liver oil but not in bone ash. Indeed, all products directly or indirectly derived from sea-salt or from Stassfurt deposits— in the present or in the pash—contain bromine. It is also said to be an essential constituent of the dye Tyrian purple which was once largely obtained from a species of marine gastropod or mollusc. 

The activities of the purple fluid of the sea hare Aplysia dactylomela, such as toxic, antimicrobial and hemagglutinating properties, have been attributed to a substance of protein nature [332], Proteoglycans and adhesive glycoproteins present in the extracellular matrix of vertebrates, have also been reported in sponges. These molecules are probably involved in the cell adhesion systems of sponges [333], Recently, novel marine proteins have been reported, such as silicatein from sponge biosilica [334], and a metallothionein protein from the marine alga Fuats vesiculosus [335], Metallothioneins have also been isolated from Arctic... 

Mamanuthaquinone (1) was identified in 1991 as a secondary metabolite of a marine sponge.1 Its name is derived from the site of the organism s discovery, the island Mamanutha near the Fiji Islands. The purple moss-like sponge is classified as Fasciospongia sp. 

Carotenoid-Protein Complexes. Three new purple-blue carotenoprotein complexes from invertebrate animals have been described. That from the carapace of Orconectes limosus (Amax 335, 460, 675 nm) has astaxanthin (8) and canthaxanthin [p,p-carotene-4,4 -dione (10)] as prosthetic group,30 and that from the fly Rhyn-chosciara americana (Amax 465, 545 nm) has one canthaxanthin and one echinenone [P,P-caroten-4-one (11)] per mole of protein.31 The sponge Suberites domuncula... 

The purple-colored sponge Hippospongia sp., from which taurospongin A (78) was obtained, was collected off Okinawa Island. The sponge was extracted with MeOH, and the extract was partitioned between EtOAc and H2O, and the aqueous phase was further extracted with n-BuOH. While the EtOAc-soIuble fraction contained a sesquiterpenoid quinone, metachromin A [50], as a major constituent, the -BuOH-soluble material was subjected to silica gel and gel filtration... 

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