Marine Biotech Fellowship: Natural Products from Common Shallow-water Soft Corals of Guam: Reproductive Considerations

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9528570 Slattery This research project will utilize analytical chemical techniques to evaluate the importance of secondary metabolites and steroids in the reproduction of 3 species of soft corals from Guam. This project builds on ongoing research which has identified and examined the importance of secondary metabolites, organic extracts, and morphological defenses in soft coral predator deterrence. This project will extract, isolate, and determine the structures of new secondary metabolites in adult colonies and their eggs. Temporal changes in concentrations of these compounds will be correlated with reproductive indices to assess the role of the compounds in maturation and spawning. Standard bioassays will be conducted to guide isolation of bioactive compounds and to determine the importance of isolated natural products in egg release, sperm chemotaxis, and feeding deterrence. Novel compounds identified in this project will expand upon a growing database of metabolites that can be used as chemotaxonomic markers and will be incorporated into existing pharmacological programs. Additionally, this project will contribute significant in sights into the reproductive biology and chemical ecology of the common soft corrals on the shallow reefs surrounding Guam. ***