Project description:Epoxygoniolide-1 (1), possessing spiroepoxide lactone, enal, and masked dialdehyde functionalities, has been characterized from the conspicuously patterned mollusc Goniobranchus splendidus. Its relative configuration was investigated by spectroscopic analyses, molecular modeling, and density functional theory calculations. The biosynthesis of 1 may involve rearrangement of a diterpene framework, providing a precursor to cometabolite gonioline (2), followed by C-C bond cleavage (via Grob or P450 mechanism). Moderate cytotoxicity to NCIH-460, SW60, or HepG2 cancer cells was observed for norditerpene 1.
Project description:Species identities of Goniobranchus nudibranchs with white bodies and various marginal bands have long been problematic. In this study, specimens of these Goniobranchus nudibranchs from the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Madagascar were analyzed and molecular data were obtained in order to re-examine the relationships between species within this "white Goniobranchus with marginal bands" group. The analyses clearly recovered six species groups corresponding to the described species Goniobranchusalbonares, G.preciosus, G.rubrocornutus, G.sinensis, and G.verrieri as well as one new species, G.fabulus Soong & Gosliner, sp. nov. Notably, G.preciosus, G.sinensis, G.rubrocornutus, G.verrieri, and G.fabulus Soong & Gosliner, sp. nov. exhibit color variation and polymorphism, suggesting that some aspects of color patterns (e.g., presence or absence of dorsal spots) may not always be useful in the identification of species in the "white Goniobranchus with marginal bands" group, whereas other features such as gill and rhinophore colors and the arrangement and colors of the mantle marginal bands are more diagnostic for each species.
Project description:Extracts of the mantle and viscera of the Indo-Pacific nudibranchs Goniobranchus aureopurpureus and Goniobranchus sp. 1 afforded 11 new diterpenoids (1-11), all of which possess a tetracyclic spongian-16-one scaffold with extensive oxidation at C-6, C-7, C-11, C-12, C-13, and/or C-20. The structures and relative configuration were investigated by NMR experiments, while X-ray crystallography provided the absolute configuration of 1, including a 2'S configuration for the 2-methylbutanoate substituent located at C-7. Dissection of animal tissue revealed that the mantle and viscera tissues differed in their metabolite composition with diterpenes 1-11 present in the mantle tissue of the two nudibranch species.
Project description:The DNA isolated from 44 either frozen or FFPE Neuroendocrine Neoplasm (NEN) was analysed by NGS, to identify genes more likely to be subject to sequence variations among 523 cancer-related ones.