Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Dec;21(6):827-33.
doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2010.10.006. Epub 2010 Nov 1.

Life in cellulose houses: symbiotic bacterial biosynthesis of ascidian drugs and drug leads

Eric W Schmidt  1 , Mohamed S Donia
Affiliations
Review

Life in cellulose houses: symbiotic bacterial biosynthesis of ascidian drugs and drug leads

Eric W Schmidt et al. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2010 Dec.

Abstract

Ascidians (tunicates; sea squirts) are sources of diverse, bioactive natural products, one of which is an approved drug and many of which are potent drug leads. It has been shown that symbiotic bacteria living with ascidians produce some of the bioactive compounds isolated from whole animals, and indirect evidence strongly implicates symbiotic bacteria in the synthesis of many others. However, for the majority the producing organism has not been identified. In cases where a symbiotic origin has been definitively assigned, the resulting data lead to improved paths to drug discovery and development from marine animals. This review traces evidence for symbiotic production where such evidence exists and describes the strengths and limitations of that evidence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Paul VJ, Lindquist N, Fenical W. Chemical defenses of the tropical ascidian Atapozoa sp. and its nudibranch predators Nembrotha spp. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 1990;59:109–118.
    1. Blunt JW, Copp BR, Munro MH, Northcote PT, Prinsep MR. Marine natural products. Nat Prod Rep. 2010;27:165–237. - PubMed
    1. Mayer AM, Glaser KB, Cuevas C, Jacobs RS, Kem W, Little RD, McIntosh JM, Newman DJ, Potts BC, Shuster DE. The odyssey of marine pharmaceuticals: a current pipeline perspective. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 31:255–265. - PubMed
    1. Molinski TF, Dalisay DS, Lievens SL, Saludes JP. Drug development from marine natural products. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009;8:69–85. - PubMed
    1. Ireland C, Scheuer PJ. Ulicyclamide and ulithiacyclamide, 2 new small peptides From a marine tunicate. J Am Chem Soc. 1980;102:5688–5691.

Publication types