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Annual Review of Marine Science Jan 2023The regular movements of waves and tides are obvious representations of the oceans' rhythmicity. But the rhythms of marine life span across ecological niches and... (Review)
Review
The regular movements of waves and tides are obvious representations of the oceans' rhythmicity. But the rhythms of marine life span across ecological niches and timescales, including short (in the range of hours) and long (in the range of days and months) periods. These rhythms regulate the physiology and behavior of individuals, as well as their interactions with each other and with the environment. This review highlights examples of rhythmicity in marine animals and algae that represent important groups of marine life across different habitats. The examples cover ecologically highly relevant species and a growing number of laboratory model systems that are used to disentangle key mechanistic principles. The review introduces fundamental concepts of chronobiology, such as the distinction between rhythmic and endogenous oscillator-driven processes. It also addresses the relevance of studying diverse rhythms and oscillators, as well as their interconnection, for making better predictions of how species will respond to environmental perturbations, including climate change. As the review aims to address scientists from the diverse fields of marine biology, ecology, and molecular chronobiology, all of which have their own scientific terms, we provide definitions of key terms throughout the article.
Topics: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biological Clocks; Marine Biology; Oceans and Seas; Ecosystem
PubMed: 36028229
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-030422-113038 -
Marine Drugs Feb 2020Glycoconjugates play significant roles in biological systems and are used in medicine, for example as vaccines [...].
Glycoconjugates play significant roles in biological systems and are used in medicine, for example as vaccines [...].
Topics: Glycoconjugates; Marine Biology
PubMed: 32085418
DOI: 10.3390/md18020120 -
Marine Drugs Apr 2020Marine fungi have been studied since the first record of the species () on the rhizome of the sea grass by Durieu and Montagne in 1846 [1], butthey have largely been...
Marine fungi have been studied since the first record of the species () on the rhizome of the sea grass by Durieu and Montagne in 1846 [1], butthey have largely been neglected, even though it is estimated that there are greater than 10,000 marinefungal species [...].
Topics: Animals; Biological Products; Fungi; Marine Biology
PubMed: 32349436
DOI: 10.3390/md18050230 -
Marine Drugs Mar 2017In previous review articles the attention of the biocatalytically oriented scientific community towards the marine environment as a source of biocatalysts focused on the... (Review)
Review
In previous review articles the attention of the biocatalytically oriented scientific community towards the marine environment as a source of biocatalysts focused on the habitat-related properties of marine enzymes. Updates have already appeared in the literature, including marine examples of oxidoreductases, hydrolases, transferases, isomerases, ligases, and lyases ready for food and pharmaceutical applications. Here a new approach for searching the literature and presenting a more refined analysis is adopted with respect to previous surveys, centering the attention on the enzymatic process rather than on a single novel activity. Fields of applications are easily individuated: (i) the biorefinery value-chain, where the provision of biomass is one of the most important aspects, with aquaculture as the prominent sector; (ii) the food industry, where the interest in the marine domain is similarly developed to deal with the enzymatic procedures adopted in food manipulation; (iii) the selective and easy extraction/modification of structurally complex marine molecules, where enzymatic treatments are a recognized tool to improve efficiency and selectivity; and (iv) marine biomarkers and derived applications (bioremediation) in pollution monitoring are also included in that these studies could be of high significance for the appreciation of marine bioprocesses.
Topics: Animals; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biotechnology; Enzymes; Humans; Marine Biology
PubMed: 28346336
DOI: 10.3390/md15040093 -
The ISME Journal Mar 2019Aquatic environments harbor a great diversity of microorganisms, which interact with the same patchy, particulate, or diffuse resources by means of a broad array of... (Review)
Review
Aquatic environments harbor a great diversity of microorganisms, which interact with the same patchy, particulate, or diffuse resources by means of a broad array of physiological and behavioral adaptations, resulting in substantially different life histories and ecological success. To date, efforts to uncover and understand this diversity have not been matched by equivalent efforts to identify unifying frameworks that can provide a degree of generality and thus serve as a stepping stone to scale up microscale dynamics to predict their ecosystem-level consequences. In particular, evaluating the ecological consequences of different resource landscapes and of different microbial adaptations has remained a major challenge in aquatic microbial ecology. Here, inspired by Ramon Margalef's mandala for phytoplankton, we propose a foraging mandala for microorganisms in aquatic environments, which accounts for both the local environment and individual adaptations. This biophysical framework distills resource acquisition into two fundamental parameters: the search time for a new resource and the growth return obtained from encounter with a resource. We illustrate the foraging mandala by considering a broad range of microbial adaptations and environmental characteristics. The broad applicability of the foraging mandala suggests that it could be a useful framework to compare disparate microbial strategies in aquatic environments and to reduce the vast complexity of microbe-environment interactions into a minimal number of fundamental parameters.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Bacteria; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Ecosystem; Hydrobiology; Microbial Interactions; Phytoplankton
PubMed: 30446738
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-018-0309-4 -
Marine Drugs Dec 2020Marine organisms inhabiting extreme habitats are a promising reservoir of bioactive compounds for drug discovery. Extreme environments, i.e., polar and hot regions, deep...
Marine organisms inhabiting extreme habitats are a promising reservoir of bioactive compounds for drug discovery. Extreme environments, i.e., polar and hot regions, deep sea, hydrothermal vents, marine areas of high pressure or high salinity, experience conditions close to the limit of life. In these marine ecosystems, "hot spots" of biodiversity, organisms have adopted a huge variety of strategies to cope with such harsh conditions, such as the production of bioactive molecules potentially valuable for biotechnological applications and for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical sectors. Many enzymes isolated from extreme environments may be of great interest in the detergent, textile, paper and food industries. Marine natural products produced by organisms evolved under hostile conditions exhibit a wide structural diversity and biological activities. In fact, they exert antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of this Special Issue "Bioactive Molecules from Extreme Environments" was to provide the most recent findings on bioactive molecules as well as enzymes isolated from extreme environments, to be used in biotechnological discovery pipelines and pharmaceutical applications, in an effort to encourage further research in these extreme habitats.
Topics: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biological Products; Extreme Environments; Marine Biology; Water Microbiology
PubMed: 33327603
DOI: 10.3390/md18120640 -
Comptes Rendus Biologies May 2011Oceans contain the largest living volume of the "blue" planet, inhabited by approximately 235-250,000 described species, all groups included. They only represent some... (Review)
Review
Oceans contain the largest living volume of the "blue" planet, inhabited by approximately 235-250,000 described species, all groups included. They only represent some 13% of the known species on the Earth, but the marine biomasses are really huge. Marine phytoplankton alone represents half the production of organic matter on Earth while marine bacteria represent more than 10%. Life first appeared in the oceans more than 3.8 billion years ago and several determining events took place that changed the course of life, ranging from the development of the cell nucleus to sexual reproduction going through multi-cellular organisms and the capture of organelles. Of the 31 animal phyla currently listed, 12 are exclusively marine phyla and have never left the ocean. An interesting question is to try to understand why there are so few marine species versus land species? This pattern of distribution seems pretty recent in the course of Evolution. From an exclusively marine world, since the beginning until 440 million years ago, land number of species much increased 110 million years ago. Specific diversity and ancestral roles, in addition to organizational models and original behaviors, have made marine organisms excellent reservoirs for identifying and extracting molecules (>15,000 today) with pharmacological potential. They also make particularly relevant models for both fundamental and applied research. Some marine models have been the source of essential discoveries in life sciences. From this diversity, the ocean provides humankind with renewable resources, which are highly threatened today and need more adequate management to preserve ocean habitats, stocks and biodiversity.
Topics: Animals; Biodiversity; Biological Evolution; Earth, Planet; Ecosystem; Humans; Marine Biology; Models, Biological; Oceans and Seas
PubMed: 21640952
DOI: 10.1016/j.crvi.2011.02.009 -
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology Apr 2016Ever since the discovery of the flavin cofactor more than 80 years ago, flavin-dependent enzymes have emerged as ubiquitous and versatile redox catalysts in primary... (Review)
Review
Ever since the discovery of the flavin cofactor more than 80 years ago, flavin-dependent enzymes have emerged as ubiquitous and versatile redox catalysts in primary metabolism. Yet, the recent advances in the discovery and characterization of secondary metabolic pathways exposed new roles for flavin-mediated catalysis in the generation of structurally complex natural products. Here, we review a selection of key biosynthetic flavoenzymes from marine bacterial secondary metabolism and illustrate how their functional and mechanistic investigation expanded our view of the cofactor's chemical repertoire and led to the discovery of a previously unknown flavin redox state.
Topics: Bacteria; Catalysis; Enzymes; Flavins; Marine Biology; Oxidation-Reduction
PubMed: 26803009
DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2016.01.001 -
International Microbiology : the... Dec 2016Since its founding in 1881 by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the Arago Laboratory of Banyuls has been one of the three marine stations of the University Pierre... (Review)
Review
Since its founding in 1881 by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the Arago Laboratory of Banyuls has been one of the three marine stations of the University Pierre and Marie Curie-Paris 6. It is located in Banyuls (Banyuls-sur-Mer) in Northern Catalonia. The center hosts researchers and students from all over the world. Some became famous, including four Nobel Prize winners: André Lwoff (1965), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1991), Albert Fert (2007) and Jules Hoffmann (2011). This article focuses on five scientists closely related to the center. The first three are Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the founder; Édouard Chatton (1883-1947), eminent director of the center; and André Lwoff (1902-1994), who before being known for his work in bacterial genetics and virology was an outstanding protozoologist under the direction of Chatton. Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), a great friend of the Arago Laboratory and personal friend of the author, is also remembered. Finally, there is a mention of Walter J. Gehring (1939-2014), professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland. [Int Microbiol 19(4): 183-190 (2016)].
Topics: France; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Laboratories; Marine Biology; Research Personnel
PubMed: 28504815
DOI: 10.2436/20.1501.01.276 -
Marine Drugs Nov 2013The ocean dominates the surface of our planet and plays a major role in regulating the biosphere. For example, the microscopic photosynthetic organisms living within... (Review)
Review
The ocean dominates the surface of our planet and plays a major role in regulating the biosphere. For example, the microscopic photosynthetic organisms living within provide 50% of the oxygen we breathe, and much of our food and mineral resources are extracted from the ocean. In a time of ecological crisis and major changes in our society, it is essential to turn our attention towards the sea to find additional solutions for a sustainable future. Remarkably, while we are overexploiting many marine resources, particularly the fisheries, the planktonic compartment composed of zooplankton, phytoplankton, bacteria and viruses, represents 95% of marine biomass and yet the extent of its diversity remains largely unknown and underexploited. Consequently, the potential of plankton as a bioresource for humanity is largely untapped. Due to their diverse evolutionary backgrounds, planktonic organisms offer immense opportunities: new resources for medicine, cosmetics and food, renewable energy, and long-term solutions to mitigate climate change. Research programs aiming to exploit culture collections of marine micro-organisms as well as to prospect the huge resources of marine planktonic biodiversity in the oceans are now underway, and several bioactive extracts and purified compounds have already been identified. This review will survey and assess the current state-of-the-art and will propose methodologies to better exploit the potential of marine plankton for drug discovery and for dermocosmetics.
Topics: Animals; Biomass; Humans; Marine Biology; Oceans and Seas; Plankton
PubMed: 24240981
DOI: 10.3390/md11114594