Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Genotyping of Sea Anemone during Early Development
Published on: May 13, 2019
Antitumor Anthraquinones from an Easter Island Sea Anemone: Animal or Bacterial Origin?
Ignacio Sottorff1,2, Sven Künzel3, Jutta Wiese4
1GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Marine Microbiology, 24105 Kiel, Germany. isottorff@geomar.de.
Abstract:
The presence of two known anthraquinones, Lupinacidin A and Galvaquinone B, which have antitumor activity, has been identified in the sea anemone (Gyractis sesere) from Easter Island. So far, these anthraquinones have been characterized from terrestrial and marine Actinobacteria only. In order to identify the anthraquinones producer, we isolated Actinobacteria associated with the sea anemone and obtained representatives of seven actinobacterial genera. Studies of cultures of these bacteria by HPLC, NMR, and HRLCMS analyses showed that the producer of Lupinacidin A and Galvaquinone B indeed was one of the isolated Actinobacteria. The producer strain, SN26_14.1, was identified as a representative of the genus Verrucosispora. Genome analysis supported the biosynthetic potential to the production of these compounds by this strain. This study adds Verrucosispora as a new genus to the anthraquinone producers, in addition to well-known species of Streptomyces and Micromonospora. By a cultivation-based approach, the responsibility of symbionts of a marine invertebrate for the production of complex natural products found within the animal's extracts could be demonstrated. This finding re-opens the debate about the producers of secondary metabolites in sea animals. Finally, it provides valuable information about the chemistry of bacteria harbored in the geographically-isolated and almost unstudied, Easter Island.
More Related Videos
12:12Identification of Hemolytic and Phospholipase Activity in Crude Extracts from Sea Anemones by Straightforward Bioassays
Published on: March 29, 2022
08:17Inducing Complete Polyp Regeneration from the Aboral Physa of the Starlet Sea Anemone Nematostella vectensis
Published on: January 14, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Effect of Sea Water on Concrete
Concrete in areas between tide marks,...
Bacterial Signaling
Bacterial Transformation
Griffith made an unexpected discovery when he killed the pathogenic strain and mixed its remains with the live, non-pathogenic strain. Not only did the mixture kill host mice, but it also contained living pathogenic bacteria that...
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
Tonicity in Animals
Tonicity in Animals