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Current Medicinal Chemistry

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 0929-8673
ISSN (Online): 1875-533X

The Cyanobacterial Origin of Potent Anticancer Agents Originally Isolated from Sea Hares

Author(s): H. Luesch, G. G. Harrigan, G. Goetz and F. D. Horgen

Volume 9, Issue 20, 2002

Page: [1791 - 1806] Pages: 16

DOI: 10.2174/0929867023369051

Price: $65

Abstract

It is increasingly evident that the true biological origin of many metabolites originally isolated from certain marine macroorganisms is cyanobacterial. For example, several dolastatins, potent cytotoxic compounds originally derived from the sea hare Dolabella auricularia, have now been isolated from marine cyanobacteria of the genera Lyngbya and Symploca. This review discusses the isolation of dolastatins and close structural analogues from cyanobacteria. Biosynthetic signatures of metabolites isolated from sea hares, but which are most probably cyanobacterial in origin, are also presented. Finally, some more complex ecology involving movement of cyanobacterial metabolites through the marine food web is presented.

Keywords: Marine cyanobacteria, Lyngbya, Symploca, sea hares, Dolabella, dolastatins, secondary metabolites, cytotoxins


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