We recently reported that the biosynthesis of fuscol, a diterpene from the octocoral Eunicea fusca, is inducible by the application of plant signaling factors such as salicylic acid to the coral's algal symbiont. In this study, an mRNA differential display approach has been employed with the di...

A novel degradative route to pregnanes has been elucidated in the marine sponge Araphimedon compressa. 22-Dehydrosterols, common in the diet of sponges, are the precursors to pregnanes and apparently are degraded by a mechanism analogous to the dealkylation of phytosterols to cholesterol.

Isochrysis galbana, one of the most widely used marine microalgae in the rearing of finfish and shellfish larvae, is mass cultured frequently in outdoor tanks. Under prolonged and repeated culture, severe contamination occurs. Axenic isolation of I. galbana from such cultures was best achieved by us...

An enzyme-based assay has been developed and utilized to confirm the production of formaldehyde in the dealkylation of sterol side chains in a marine sponge. The enzyme used in the assay, formaldehyde dehydrogenase, is NAD+ dependent, and the assay measures the production of NADH by determining the ...

A viable cell-free extract of the marine tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata has been generated that is capable of transforming amino acids into the ecteinascidin antitumor alkaloids. Tyrosine and cysteine were identified as two building blocks used in ecteinascidin production. The enzyme preparations ...

A biosynthetic study has been performed to elucidate the precise mechanisms of sterol side chain dealkylation in marine sponges. This process resembles that of insects by involving the oxidation of common dietary sterols with unsaturation at C-24(28) (24-methylenecholesterol (8), fucosterol (3), and...

Marine invertebrates have proven to be a rich source of secondary metabolites. The growing recognition that marine microorganisms associated with invertebrate hosts are involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites offers new alternatives for the discovery and development of marine natural p...

Cyclobutenbriarein A (2), a novel class of C20-rearranged diterpene briarane possessing an unprecedented tricyclo[8.4.0.0(3,6)]tetradec-4-ene ring system was isolated, along with five new briarane diterpenoids (1 and 3-6), from the organic extracts of the Bahamian gorgonian Briareum asbestinum. The ...