First Report on Chitin in a Non-Verongiid Marine Demosponge: The Mycale euplectellioides Case.

ABSTRACT: Sponges (Porifera) are recognized as aquatic multicellular organisms which developed an effective biochemical pathway over millions of years of evolution to produce both biologically active secondary metabolites and biopolymer-based skeletal structures. Among marine demosponges, only representatives of the Verongiida order are known to synthetize biologically active substances as well as skeletons made of structural polysaccharide chitin. The unique three-dimensional (3D) architecture of such chitinous skeletons opens the widow for their recent applications as adsorbents, as well as scaffolds for tissue engineering and biomimetics. This study has the ambitious goal of monitoring other orders beyond Verongiida demosponges and finding alternative sources of naturally prestructured chitinous

SUBMITTER: Zoltowska-Aksamitowska S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5852496 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature