Acronym APROVMAR
Category
Marine Biotechnology
Title Marine bioactive compounds: exploitation of secondary metabolites from dinoflagelates Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National
Coordinator institution
ULL - University of La Laguna (Spain)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2015 End year 2018 Funding (€) € 196,020 Website NA Summary Marine microalgae play an important role in protecting the environment through their photosynthetic activity. Among them, our research group is interested in dinoflagellates, the microalgae are responsible for the phenomenon known as algal blooms or red tides. Marine dinoflagellates produce a diverse suite of complex toxins. These molecules are structurally and functionally diverse, and many present unique biological activities, therefore, they may result very useful as biological tools. In this research project, we propose to extend our studies on large-scale cultures of prorocentrum species with the aim to discover novel polar metabolites, such as the “supercarbonchain compounds (scc)”, belizeanolide and belizeanolic acid, as well as other macrocyclic lactones isolated by our group. In the same direction, and coordinated with the ual’s group, we intend to establish the grounds for the industrial development and improvement of the production of bioactive metabolites by these planktonic species. The aim to reach is to develop large-scale cultures using open photobioreactors and continuous cultures with amphidinium strains. Large-scale cultures of both prorocentrum and amphidinium strains are necessary to obtain enough biomass to be able to access to minor metabolites. The structural and configurational studies on these extremely complex molecules will be elucidated by nmr analysis. Also, when possible, we will determine the biosynthetic origin of these novel structures, taking into consideration that they belong to a rare group of natural products. Aside from the structural and biosynthetic aspects on marine toxins, these substances present interesting biological activities, however, in many instances, their mode of action still remain unknown. For this reason, together with UNIOVI, the effects of these toxins on central nervous system (cns) will be evaluated using in vitro primary neuronal cell cultures and cerebellar glial cells and organotypic cultures. Furthermore, the antifouling properties of toxins, and other natural and synthetic molecules will be analyzed. We, at IUBO, have implemented a complete set of bioassays to evaluate different stages of biofouling (biofilm inhibition, quorum sensing, tyrosinase inhibition, spore attachment inhibition, etc). These studies will be coordinated with ual in order to give light on the processes involved in the formation or inhibition biofilms. An important aspect regarding the study of bioactive substances of marine origin has to do with the analysis of structural interactions between molecule and target protein. For this reason we propose to study the protein-ligand interactions by nmr and/or itc of those molecules that show an interesting bioactivity.
Keywords
Biofouling;
Antifouling;
Technology;
Land-based aquaculture;
Bioactive compounds;
Toxins;
Bioprospecting;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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