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Published on: April 15, 2013
Biological and Chemical Diversity of Ascidian-Associated Microorganisms
Lei Chen1, Jin-Shuang Hu2, Jia-Lei Xu3
1Department of Bioengineering, School of Marine Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai 264209, China. chenlei@hitwh.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Ascidians are a class of sessile filter-feeding invertebrates, that provide unique and fertile niches harboring various microorganisms, such as bacteria, actinobacteria, cyanobacteria and fungi. Over 1000 natural products, including alkaloids, cyclic peptides, and polyketides, have been isolated from them, which display diverse properties, such as antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. Strikingly, direct evidence has confirmed that ~8% of natural products from ascidians are actually produced by symbiotic microorganisms. In this review, we present 150 natural products from microorganisms associated with ascidians that have been reported up to 2017.
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