Search for mole cular probes from non-utilized marine resources of coral reef twilight zone

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In order to discover new bioactive molecules, we examined metabolites of marine invertebrates collected from the coral reef twilight zone, where can be defined as depth range between 40 m and 150 m.A lipophilic extract of the sponge Suberites japonicus showed strong cytotoxicity,. After separation, a series of cytotoxins named sergamides A-F were obtained by analyzing their spectroscopic data and by making derivatives. As seragamide A inhibited cytokinc sis of cultured cells, it was suspected that the molecule might target the cytoskeletal protein actin. By using fluorescent-labeled 1 actin, we could confirm that seragamide A inhibited depolymerization of F-actin and facilitated polymerization of G-actin. This mode of action was similar to those of phalloidin and jaspamide. The sponge Dysidea cf. arenaria was found to contain moderate cytotoxins. By separating its extract, we obtained totally seven new diterpenes having spongian class skeleton. Their structures were elucidated by interpreting their NMR data and also by comparing the data with those reported. During this study we found that there exists variation on the spongian diterpenes with collection sites.A gorgonian coral Ellisella sp. was collected at Kunigami village and was found to contain new briarane class diterpenes. Some of them was shown to be cytokinesis inhibitors.In addition, we collected totally 44 specimens of marine invertebrates from the coral reef twilight zone along Okinawa Island, and obtained several known bioactive molecules after screening. As this research is still an on-going project, I hope we can isolate more new bioactive molecules from them.