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Review
. 2022 Mar 31;20(4):244.
doi: 10.3390/md20040244.

Marine Demospongiae: A Challenging Treasure of Bioactive Compounds

Roberta Esposito  1   2 , Serena Federico  1 , Marco Bertolino  3 , Valerio Zupo  1 , Maria Costantini  1
Affiliations
Review

Marine Demospongiae: A Challenging Treasure of Bioactive Compounds

Roberta Esposito et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

In the last decades, it has been demonstrated that marine organisms are a substantial source of bioactive compounds with possible biotechnological applications. Marine sponges, in particular those belonging to the class of Demospongiae, have been considered among the most interesting invertebrates for their biotechnological potential. In this review, particular attention is devoted to natural compounds/extracts isolated from Demospongiae and their associated microorganisms with important biological activities for pharmacological applications such as antiviral, anticancer, antifouling, antimicrobial, antiplasmodial, antifungal and antioxidant. The data here presented show that this class of sponges is an exciting source of compounds, which are worth developing into new drugs, such as avarol, a hydroquinone isolated from the marine sponge Disidea avara, which is used as an antitumor, antimicrobial and antiviral drug.

Keywords: Demospongiae; bacteria; diverse bioactivities; fungi.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graphical representation of sponges and their associated biota activities reported for the pharmacological application. The scale of the bubble is relative to the number of papers found. This image was created in Biorender.com (accessed on 1 January 2022).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Examples of natural products isolated from some sponges belonging to the class of Demospongiae.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Different bioactive extracts/compounds isolated from Demospongiae.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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