scholarly journals Mangrove-Associated Fungi: A Novel Source of Potential Anticancer Compounds

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunil Deshmukh ◽  
Manish Gupta ◽  
Ved Prakash ◽  
M. Sudhakara Reddy

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and the number of cases is increasing alarmingly every year. Current research focuses on the development of novel chemotherapeutic drugs derived from natural as well as synthetic sources. The abundance and diversity in natural resources offer tremendous potential for the discovery of novel molecules with unique mechanisms for cancer therapy. Mangrove-derived fungi are rich source of novel metabolites, comprising novel structure classes with diverse biological activities. Across the globe, coastal areas are primarily dominated by mangrove forests, which offer an intensely complex environment and species that mostly remain unexplored. In recent years, many structurally diverse compounds with unique skeletons have been identified from mangrove fungi and evaluated for their antiproliferative properties. These compounds may serve as lead molecules for the development of new anticancer drugs. Mangrove endophytes can be modulated using epigenetic means or culture optimization methods to improve the yield or to produce various similar analogs. The present review provides an insight into the bioactive metabolites from mangrove endophytes reported during the period from 2012 to 2018 (up to April, 2018) along with their cytotoxic properties, focusing on their chemical structures and mode of action, as indicated in the literature.

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11778
Author(s):  
Reham K. Abuhijjleh ◽  
Samiullah Shabbir ◽  
Ahmed M. Al-Abd ◽  
Nada H. Jiaan ◽  
Shahad Alshamil ◽  
...  

Marine life has provided mankind with unique and extraordinary chemical structures and scaffolds with potent biological activities. Many organisms and secondary metabolites derived from fungi and symbionts are found to be more environmentally friendly to study than the marine corals per se. Marine symbionts such as Aspergillus sp., a fungus, which can be isolated and grown in the lab would be a potential and continuous source of bioactive natural compounds without affecting the marine environment. The Red Sea is known for its biodiversity and is well-studied in terms of its marine-derived bioactive metabolites. The harsh environmental conditions lead to the development of unique metabolic pathways. This, in turn, results in enhanced synthesis and release of toxic and bioactive chemicals. Interestingly, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman carry a variety of environmental stresses, some of which are similar to the Red Sea. When compared to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf has been shown to be rich in marine fungi as well, and is, therefore, expected to contain elaborate and interesting bioactive compounds. Such compounds may or may not be similar to the ones isolated from the Red Sea environment. Astoundingly, there are a very limited number of studies on the bioactive portfolio of marine-derived metabolites from the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In this perspective, we are looking at the Red Sea as a comparator marine environment and bioactive materials repertoire to provide a futuristic perspective on the potential of the understudied and possibly overlooked bioactive metabolites derived from the marine life of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman despite its proven biodiversity and harsher environmental stress.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (14) ◽  
pp. 3152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiez Hentati ◽  
Latifa Tounsi ◽  
Djomdi Djomdi ◽  
Guillaume Pierre ◽  
Cédric Delattre ◽  
...  

Bioactive compounds with diverse chemical structures play a significant role in disease prevention and maintenance of physiological functions. Due to the increase in industrial demand for new biosourced molecules, several types of biomasses are being exploited for the identification of bioactive metabolites and techno-functional biomolecules that are suitable for the subsequent uses in cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical fields. Among the various biomasses available, macroalgae are gaining popularity because of their potential nutraceutical and health benefits. Such health effects are delivered by specific diterpenes, pigments (fucoxanthin, phycocyanin, and carotenoids), bioactive peptides and polysaccharides. Abundant and recent studies have identified valuable biological activities of native algae polysaccharides, but also of their derivatives, including oligosaccharides and (bio)chemically modified polysaccharides. However, only a few of them can be industrially developed and open up new markets of active molecules, extracts or ingredients. In this respect, the health and nutraceutical claims associated with marine algal bioactive polysaccharides are summarized and comprehensively discussed in this review.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (37) ◽  
pp. 4888-4902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilda D'Urso ◽  
Sonia Piacente ◽  
Cosimo Pizza ◽  
Paola Montoro

The consumption of berry-type fruits has become very popular in recent years because of their positive effects on human health. Berries are in fact widely known for their health-promoting benefits, including prevention of chronic disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Berries are a rich source of bioactive metabolites, such as vitamins, minerals, and phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies recognized the health effects of berries and their function as bioactive modulators of various cell functions associated with oxidative stress. Plants have one of the largest metabolome databases, with over 1200 papers on plant metabolomics published only in the last decade. Mass spectrometry (MS) and NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) are the most important analytical technologies on which the emerging ''omics'' approaches are based. They may provide detection and quantization of thousands of biologically active metabolites from a tissue, working in a ''global'' or ''targeted'' manner, down to ultra-trace levels. In the present review, we highlighted the use of MS and NMR-based strategies and Multivariate Data Analysis for the valorization of berries known for their biological activities, important as food and often used in the preparation of nutraceutical formulations.


Author(s):  
Song-Wei Li ◽  
Yue-Wei Guo

: Marine mollusks are a prolific source of secondary metabolites with complex/diverse structures and various aspects of biological activities. For above mentioned reason, these animals have been being extensively explored and became the hotspot of research subject in the recent years. It is well documented that mollusks can escape from predation by utilizing bioactive metabolites as defensive chemicals. In the last decade, the possible diet relationship between the South China Sea mollusks and their related potential prey organisms, including sponges, corals, algae, etc. have been systematically investigated. A series of interesting results have been obtained concerning the chemistry, chemoecology and pharmacological profiles of the studied marine organisms. The present review focuses on recent development dealing with chemistry, chemoecology, and bioactivity of the South China Sea mollusks and their dietary organisms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepak Kumar Singh ◽  
Mayank Kulshreshtha ◽  
Yogesh Kumar ◽  
Pooja A Chawla ◽  
Akash Ved ◽  
...  

Background: The pyrazolines give the reactions of aliphatic derivatives, resembling unsaturated compounds in their behavior towards permanganate and nascent hydrogen. This nucleus has been associated with various biological activities including inflammatory. Thiazolinone is a heterocyclic compound that contains both sulfur and nitrogen atom with a carbonyl group in their structure.Thiazolinone and their derivatives have attracted continuing interest because of their various biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-proliferative, antiviral, anticonvulsant etc. The aim of the research was to club pyrazoline nucleus with thiazolinone in order to have significantanti-inflammatory activity. The synthesized compounds were chemically characterized for the establishment of their chemical structures and to evaluate as anti-inflammatory agent. Method: In the present work, eight derivatives of substituted pyrazoline (PT1-PT8) were synthesized by a three step reaction.The compounds were subjected to spectral analysis by Infrared, Mass and Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and elemental analysis data. All the synthesized were evaluated for their in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. The synthesized derivatives were evaluated for their affinity towards target COX-1 and COX-2, using indomethacin as the reference compound molecular docking visualization through AutoDock Vina. Results: Compounds PT-1, PT-3, PT-4 and PT-8 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity at 3rd hour being 50.7%, 54.3%, 52.3% and 57% respectively closer to that of the standard drug indomethacin (61.9%).From selected anti-inflammatory targets, the synthesized derivatives exhibited better interaction with COX-1 and COX-2 receptor, where indomethacin showed docking score of -6.5 kJ/mol, compound PT-1 exhibited highest docking score of -9.1 kJ/mol for COX-1 and compound PT-8 having docking score of 9.4 kJ/mol for COX-2. Conclusion: It was concluded that synthesized derivatives have more interaction with COX-2 receptors in comparison to the COX-1 receptors because the docking score with COX-2 receptors were very good. It is concluded that the synthesized derivatives (PT-1 to PT-8) are potent COX-2 inhibitors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jainara Santos do Nascimento ◽  
João Carlos Silva Conceição ◽  
Eliane de Oliveira Silva

Coumarins are natural 1,2-benzopyrones, present in remarkable amounts as secondary metabolites in edible and medicinal plants. The low yield in the coumarins isolation from natural sources, along with the difficulties faced by the total synthesis, make them attractive for biotechnological studies. The current literature contains several reports on the biotransformation of coumarins by fungi, which can generate chemical analogs with high selectivity, using mild and eco-friendly conditions. Prompted by the enormous pharmacological interest in the coumarin-related compounds, their alimentary and chemical applications, this review covers the biotransformation of coumarins by filamentous fungi. The chemical structures of the analogs were presented and compared with those from the pattern structures. The main chemical reactions catalyzed the insertion of functional groups, and the impact on the biological activities caused by the chemical transformations were discussed. Several chemical reactions can be catalyzed by filamentous fungi in the coumarin scores, mainly lactone ring opening, C3-C4 reduction and hydroxylation. Chunninghamella sp. and Aspergillus sp. are the most common fungi used in these transformations. Concerning the substrates, the biotransformation of pyranocoumarins is a rarer process. Sometimes, the bioactivities were improved by the chemical modifications and coincidences with the mammalian metabolism were pointed out.


Author(s):  
Prasad Dandawate ◽  
Khursheed Ahmed ◽  
Subhash Padhye ◽  
Aamir Ahmad ◽  
Bernhard Biersack

Background: Chalcones are structurally simple compounds that are easily accessible by synthetic methods. Heterocyclic chalcones have gained the interest among scientists due to their diverse biological activities. The anti-tumor activities of heterocyclic chalcones are especially remarkable and the growing number of publications dealing with this topic warrants an up-to-date compilation. Methods: Search for antitumor active heterocyclic chalcones was carried out using Pubmed and Scifinder as common web-based literature searching tools. Pertinent and current literature is covered from 2015/2016 to 2019. Chemical structures, biological activities and modes of action of anti-tumor active heterocyclic chalcones are summarized. Results: Simply prepared chalcones have emerged over the last years with promising antitumor activities. Among them is a considerable number of tubulin polymerization inhibitors. But there are also new chalcones targeting special enzymes such as histone deacetylases or with DNA-binding properties. Conclusion: This review provides a summary of recent heterocyclic chalcone derivatives with distinct anti-tumor activities.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Timofey V. Malyarenko ◽  
Alla A. Kicha ◽  
Valentin A. Stonik ◽  
Natalia V. Ivanchina

Sphingolipids are complex lipids widespread in nature as structural components of biomembranes. Commonly, the sphingolipids of marine organisms differ from those of terrestrial animals and plants. The gangliosides are the most complex sphingolipids characteristic of vertebrates that have been found in only the Echinodermata (echinoderms) phylum of invertebrates. Sphingolipids of the representatives of the Asteroidea and Holothuroidea classes are the most studied among all echinoderms. In this review, we have summarized the data on sphingolipids of these two classes of marine invertebrates over the past two decades. Recently established structures, properties, and peculiarities of biogenesis of ceramides, cerebrosides, and gangliosides from starfishes and holothurians are discussed. The purpose of this review is to provide the most complete information on the chemical structures, structural features, and biological activities of sphingolipids of the Asteroidea and Holothuroidea classes.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
Mariaevelina Alfieri ◽  
Antonietta Leone ◽  
Alfredo Ambrosone

Plants produce different types of nano and micro-sized vesicles. Observed for the first time in the 60s, plant nano and microvesicles (PDVs) and their biological role have been inexplicably under investigated for a long time. Proteomic and metabolomic approaches revealed that PDVs carry numerous proteins with antifungal and antimicrobial activity, as well as bioactive metabolites with high pharmaceutical interest. PDVs have also been shown to be also involved in the intercellular transfer of small non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs, suggesting fascinating mechanisms of long-distance gene regulation and horizontal transfer of regulatory RNAs and inter-kingdom communications. High loading capacity, intrinsic biological activities, biocompatibility, and easy permeabilization in cell compartments make plant-derived vesicles excellent natural or bioengineered nanotools for biomedical applications. Growing evidence indicates that PDVs may exert anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anticancer activities in different in vitro and in vivo models. In addition, clinical trials are currently in progress to test the effectiveness of plant EVs in reducing insulin resistance and in preventing side effects of chemotherapy treatments. In this review, we concisely introduce PDVs, discuss shortly their most important biological and physiological roles in plants and provide clues on the use and the bioengineering of plant nano and microvesicles to develop innovative therapeutic tools in nanomedicine, able to encompass the current drawbacks in the delivery systems in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical technology. Finally, we predict that the advent of intense research efforts on PDVs may disclose new frontiers in plant biotechnology applied to nanomedicine.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3457
Author(s):  
Ting Hu ◽  
Peng Wu ◽  
Jianfeng Zhan ◽  
Weixin Wang ◽  
Junfeng Shen ◽  
...  

Tea polysaccharides (TPSs) are one of the main bioactive constituents of tea with various biological activities such as hypoglycemic effect, antioxidant, antitumor, and immunomodulatory. The bioactivities of TPSs are directly associated with their structures such as chemical composition, molecular weight, glycosidic linkages, and conformation among others. To study the relationship between the structures of TPSs and their bioactivities, it is essential to elucidate the structure of TPSs, particularly the fine structures. Due to the vast variation nature of monosaccharide units and their connections, the structure of TPSs is extremely complex, which is also affected by several major factors including tea species, processing technologies of tea and isolation methods of TPSs. As a result of the complexity, there are few studies on their fine structures and chain conformation. In the present review, we aim to provide a detailed summary of the multiple factors influencing the characteristics of TPS chemical structures such as variations of tea species, degree of fermentation, and preparation methods among others as well as their applications. The main aspects of understanding the structural difference of TPSs and influencing factors are to assist the study of the structure and bioactivity relationship and ultimately, to control the production of the targeted TPSs with the most desired biological activity.


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