Marine animals and plants such as sponges, sea squirts, corals, worms and algae host diverse and abundant symbiotic microorganisms. Marine microbial symbionts are possible the true producers or take part in the biosynthesis of some bioactive marine natural products isolated from the marine organism hosts. Investigation of the pharmaceutical metabolites may reveal the biosynthesis mechanisms of ...

Ethanolic crude extracts from seven marine algal species belong to Clorophyceae (Cladophora glomerata, Enteromorpha linza, Ulva rigida), Phaeophyceae (Cystoseira barbata, Padina pavonica) and Rhodophyceae (Corallina officinalis, Ceramium ciliatum) from the coast of Vona, Turkey were evaluated in vitro for the antibacterial and antifungal activity of six bacteria and two fungus with the paper di...

Marine fungi are potential producers of bioactive compounds that may have pharmacological and medicinal applications. Fungi were cultured from marine brown algae and identified using multiple target genes to confirm phylogenetic placement. These target genes included the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the nuclear large subunit (LSU), and the β-tubulin region. Various biological activities o...

Light is a source of both energy and information for the biota. The spatial, temporal and spectral variability of light experienced by marine phytoplankton differs significantly from that experienced by terrestrial plants, due to the selective attenuation of solar irradiance in the aquatic medium. In the present study we analysed such variability and focused, in particular, on those bands withi...

Biomedical field is constantly requesting for new biomaterials, with innovative properties. Natural polymers appear as materials of election for this goal due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. In particular, materials found in marine environment are of great interest since the chemical and biological diversity found in this environment is almost uncountable and continuously growin...

Meroterpenes are widely distributed among marine organisms; they are particularly abundant within brown algae, but other important sources include microorganisms and invertebrates. In the present review the structures and bioactivities of meroterpenes from marine invertebrates, mainly sponges and tunicates, are summarized. More than 300 molecules, often complex and with unique skeletons origina...

We report the draft genome sequences of marine RNA viruses SF-1, SF-2, and SF-3, which were assembled from metagenomic sequencing of organisms in San Francisco wastewater. These viruses were most closely related to marine RNA virus JP-B and algae viruses.

In marine green algae, isogamous or slightly anisogamous species are taxonomically widespread. They produce positively phototactic gametes with phototactic devices including an eye-spot in both sexes. We developed a new numerical simulator of gamete behavior using C++ and pseudo-parallelization methods to elucidate potential advantages of phototaxis. Input parameters were set based on experimen...

In order to investigate the behavior of rare earth elements (REEs) and uranium (U) in marine organism, the concentrations of REEs and U in some brown algae samples taken on the coast of Niigata Prefecture were determined. In addition, laboratory model experiment to uptake these elements using living and dried algae (Undaria pinnatifida and Sargassum hemiphyllum) was also carried out to survey t...