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Marine Drugs Mar 2017A growing body of evidence indicates that marine sponge-derived microbes possess the potential ability to make prolific natural products with therapeutic effects. This... (Review)
Review
A growing body of evidence indicates that marine sponge-derived microbes possess the potential ability to make prolific natural products with therapeutic effects. This review for the first time provides a comprehensive overview of new cytotoxic agents from these marine microbes over the last 62 years from 1955 to 2016, which are assorted into seven types: terpenes, alkaloids, peptides, aromatics, lactones, steroids, and miscellaneous compounds.
Topics: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biological Products; Humans; Peptides; Porifera; Steroids
PubMed: 28287431
DOI: 10.3390/md15030068 -
Advances in Marine Biology 2012Knowledge of the functioning, health state, and capacity for recovery of marine benthic organisms and assemblages has become essential to adequately manage and preserve... (Review)
Review
Knowledge of the functioning, health state, and capacity for recovery of marine benthic organisms and assemblages has become essential to adequately manage and preserve marine biodiversity. Molecular tools have allowed an entirely new way to tackle old and new questions in conservation biology and ecology, and sponge science is following this lead. In this review, we discuss the biological and ecological studies of sponges that have used molecular markers during the past 20 years and present an outlook for expected trends in the molecular ecology of sponges in the near future. We go from (1) the interface between inter- and intraspecies studies, to (2) phylogeography and population level analyses, (3) intra-population features such as clonality and chimerism, and (4) environmentally modulated gene expression. A range of molecular markers has been assayed with contrasting success to reveal cryptic species and to assess the genetic diversity and connectivity of sponge populations, as well as their capacity to respond to environmental changes. We discuss the pros and cons of the molecular gene partitions used to date and the prospects of a plentiful supply of new markers for sponge ecological studies in the near future, in light of recently available molecular technologies. We predict that molecular ecology studies of sponges will move from genetics (the use of one or some genes) to genomics (extensive genome or transcriptome sequencing) in the forthcoming years and that sponge ecologists will take advantage of this research trend to answer ecological and biological questions that would have been impossible to address a few years ago.
Topics: Animals; Demography; Ecosystem; Gene Expression Regulation; Phylogeography; Porifera
PubMed: 22560781
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-387787-1.00006-4 -
Marine Drugs Dec 2022Marine sponges represent one of the richest sources of natural marine compounds with anticancer potential. Plocabulin (PM060184), a polyketide originally isolated from... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges represent one of the richest sources of natural marine compounds with anticancer potential. Plocabulin (PM060184), a polyketide originally isolated from the sponge , elicits its main anticancer properties binding tubulin, which still represents one of the most important targets for anticancer drugs. Plocabulin showed potent antitumor activity, in both in vitro and in vivo models of different types of cancers, mediated not only by its antitubulin activity, but also by its ability to block endothelial cell migration and invasion. The objective of this review is to offer a description of plocabulin's mechanisms of action, with special emphasis on the antiangiogenic signals and the latest progress on its development as an anticancer agent.
Topics: Animals; Polyketides; Antineoplastic Agents; Neoplasms; Pyrones; Porifera
PubMed: 36662211
DOI: 10.3390/md21010038 -
Marine Drugs Oct 2010Marine sponges are currently one of the richest sources of pharmacologically active compounds found in the marine environment. These bioactive molecules are often... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges are currently one of the richest sources of pharmacologically active compounds found in the marine environment. These bioactive molecules are often secondary metabolites, whose main function is to enable and/or modulate cellular communication and defense. They are usually produced by functional enzyme clusters in sponges and/or their associated symbiotic microorganisms. Natural product lead compounds from sponges have often been found to be promising pharmaceutical agents. Several of them have successfully been approved as antiviral agents for clinical use or have been advanced to the late stages of clinical trials. Most of these drugs are used for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV). The most important antiviral lead of marine origin reported thus far is nucleoside Ara-A (vidarabine) isolated from sponge Tethya crypta. It inhibits viral DNA polymerase and DNA synthesis of herpes, vaccinica and varicella zoster viruses. However due to the discovery of new types of viruses and emergence of drug resistant strains, it is necessary to develop new antiviral lead compounds continuously. Several sponge derived antiviral lead compounds which are hoped to be developed as future drugs are discussed in this review. Supply problems are usually the major bottleneck to the development of these compounds as drugs during clinical trials. However advances in the field of metagenomics and high throughput microbial cultivation has raised the possibility that these techniques could lead to the cost-effective large scale production of such compounds. Perspectives on biotechnological methods with respect to marine drug development are also discussed.
Topics: Animals; Antiviral Agents; Aquatic Organisms; Biotechnology; Drug Discovery; HIV Infections; Herpes Simplex; Humans; Metagenomics; Porifera; Simplexvirus; Symbiosis; Vidarabine
PubMed: 21116410
DOI: 10.3390/md8102619 -
Marine Drugs Aug 2021Marine sponges are the most prolific marine sources for discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Sponge secondary metabolites are sought-after for their potential in... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges are the most prolific marine sources for discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Sponge secondary metabolites are sought-after for their potential in pharmaceutical applications, and in the past, they were also used as taxonomic markers alongside the difficult and homoplasy-prone sponge morphology for species delineation (chemotaxonomy). The understanding of phylogenetic distribution and distinctiveness of metabolites to sponge lineages is pivotal to reveal pathways and evolution of compound production in sponges. This benefits the discovery rate and yield of bioprospecting for novel marine natural products by identifying lineages with high potential of being new sources of valuable sponge compounds. In this review, we summarize the current biochemical data on sponges and compare the metabolite distribution against a sponge phylogeny. We assess compound specificity to lineages, potential convergences, and suitability as diagnostic phylogenetic markers. Our study finds compound distribution corroborating current (molecular) phylogenetic hypotheses, which include yet unaccepted polyphyly of several demosponge orders and families. Likewise, several compounds and compound groups display a high degree of lineage specificity, which suggests homologous biosynthetic pathways among their taxa, which identifies yet unstudied species of this lineage as promising bioprospecting targets.
Topics: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Humans; Phylogeny; Phytotherapy; Porifera
PubMed: 34436287
DOI: 10.3390/md19080448 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2021Marine sponges are one of the prolific producers of bioactive natural products with therapeutic potential. As an important subgenus of , sponges are mainly distributed... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges are one of the prolific producers of bioactive natural products with therapeutic potential. As an important subgenus of , sponges are mainly distributed in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic area, and had been chemically investigated for over four decades. By an extensive literature search, this review first makes a comprehensive summary of all natural products from sponges and their endozoic microbes, as well as biological properties. Perspectives on strengthening the chemical study of sponges for new drug-lead discovery are provided in this work.
Topics: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biological Products; Models, Molecular; Porifera
PubMed: 33669688
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26041097 -
Marine Drugs Jan 2021Marine sponges are exceptionally prolific sources of natural products for the discovery and development of new drugs. Until now, sponges have contributed around 30% of... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges are exceptionally prolific sources of natural products for the discovery and development of new drugs. Until now, sponges have contributed around 30% of all natural metabolites isolated from the marine environment. Family Latrunculiidae Topsent, 1922 (class Demospongiae Sollas, 1885, order Poecilosclerida Topsent, 1928) is a small sponge family comprising seven genera. Latrunculid sponges are recognized as the major reservoirs of diverse types of pyrroloiminoquinone-type alkaloids, with a myriad of biological activities, in particular, cytotoxicity, fuelling their exploration for anticancer drug discovery. Almost 100 pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids and their structurally related compounds have been reported from the family Latrunculiidae. The systematics of latrunculid sponges has had a complex history, however it is now well understood. The pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids have provided important chemotaxonomic characters for this sponge family. Latrunculid sponges have been reported to contain other types of metabolites, such as peptides (callipeltins), norditerpenes and norsesterpenes (trunculins) and macrolides (latrunculins), however, the sponges containing latrunculins and trunculins have been transferred to other sponge families. This review highlights a comprehensive literature survey spanning from the first chemical investigation of a New Zealand sp. in 1986 until August 2020, focusing on the chemical diversity and biological activities of secondary metabolites reported from the family Latrunculiidae. The biosynthetic (microbial) origin and the taxonomic significance of pyrroloiminoquinone related alkaloids are also discussed.
Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Biological Products; Drug Discovery; Humans; Molecular Structure; Porifera
PubMed: 33435402
DOI: 10.3390/md19010027 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2022Sponges (Porifera), basal nonbilaterian metazoans, are well known for their high regenerative capacities ranging from reparation of a lost body wall to whole-body...
Sponges (Porifera), basal nonbilaterian metazoans, are well known for their high regenerative capacities ranging from reparation of a lost body wall to whole-body regeneration from a small piece of tissues or even from dissociated cells. Sponges from different clades utilize different cell sources and various morphological processes to complete the regeneration. This variety makes these animals promising models for studying the evolution of regeneration in Metazoa. However, there are few publications concerning the regenerative mechanisms in sponges. This could be partially explained by the delicacy of sponge tissues, which requires modifying and fine adjusting of common research protocols. The current chapter describes various methods for studying regeneration processes in the marine calcareous sponge, Leucosolenia. Provided protocols span all significant research steps: from sponge collection and surgical operations to various types of microscopy and immunohistochemical studies.
Topics: Animals; Porifera
PubMed: 35359303
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2172-1_4 -
Developmental Biology Nov 2017A complex genetic repertoire underlies the apparently simple body plan of sponges. Among the genes present in poriferans are those fundamental to the sensory and nervous... (Review)
Review
A complex genetic repertoire underlies the apparently simple body plan of sponges. Among the genes present in poriferans are those fundamental to the sensory and nervous systems of other animals. Sponges are dynamic and sensitive animals and it is intuitive to link these genes to behaviour. The proposal that ctenophores are the earliest diverging metazoan has led to the question of whether sponges possess a 'pre-nervous' system or have undergone nervous system loss. Both lines of thought generally assume that the last common ancestor of sponges and eumetazoans possessed the genetic modules that underlie sensory abilities. By corollary extant sponges may possess a sensory cell homologous to one present in the last common ancestor, a hypothesis that has been studied by gene expression. We have performed a meta-analysis of all gene expression studies published to date to explore whether gene expression is indicative of a feature's sensory function. In sponges we find that eumetazoan sensory-neural markers are not particularly expressed in structures with known sensory functions. Instead it is common for these genes to be expressed in cells with no known or uncharacterized sensory function. Indeed, many sensory-neural markers so far studied are expressed during development, perhaps because many are transcription factors. This suggests that the genetic signal of a sponge sensory cell is dissimilar enough to be unrecognizable when compared to a bilaterian sensory or neural cell. It is possible that sensory-neural markers have as yet unknown functions in sponge cells, such as assembling an immunological synapse in the larval globular cell. Furthermore, the expression of sensory-neural markers in non-sensory cells, such as adult and larval epithelial cells, suggest that these cells may have uncharacterized sensory functions. While this does not rule out the co-option of ancestral sensory modules in later evolving groups, a distinct genetic foundation may underlie the sponge sensory system.
Topics: Animals; Evolution, Molecular; Gene Expression; Phylogeny; Porifera; Sensation; Sensory Receptor Cells; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 28647138
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.06.012 -
Microbiology and Molecular Biology... Jun 2007Marine sponges often contain diverse and abundant microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, microalgae, and fungi. In some cases, these microbial associates... (Review)
Review
Marine sponges often contain diverse and abundant microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, microalgae, and fungi. In some cases, these microbial associates comprise as much as 40% of the sponge volume and can contribute significantly to host metabolism (e.g., via photosynthesis or nitrogen fixation). We review in detail the diversity of microbes associated with sponges, including extensive 16S rRNA-based phylogenetic analyses which support the previously suggested existence of a sponge-specific microbiota. These analyses provide a suitable vantage point from which to consider the potential evolutionary and ecological ramifications of these widespread, sponge-specific microorganisms. Subsequently, we examine the ecology of sponge-microbe associations, including the establishment and maintenance of these sometimes intimate partnerships, the varied nature of the interactions (ranging from mutualism to host-pathogen relationships), and the broad-scale patterns of symbiont distribution. The ecological and evolutionary importance of sponge-microbe associations is mirrored by their enormous biotechnological potential: marine sponges are among the animal kingdom's most prolific producers of bioactive metabolites, and in at least some cases, the compounds are of microbial rather than sponge origin. We review the status of this important field, outlining the various approaches (e.g., cultivation, cell separation, and metagenomics) which have been employed to access the chemical wealth of sponge-microbe associations.
Topics: Animals; Bacteria; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Biological Evolution; Biotechnology; Ecology; Porifera; Social Behavior; Symbiosis
PubMed: 17554047
DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00040-06