Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians.

ABSTRACT: Sea cucumbers are slow-moving organisms that use morphological, but also a diverse combination of chemical defenses to improve their overall fitness and chances of survival. Since chemical defense compounds are also of great pharmaceutical interest, we pinpoint the importance of biological screenings that are a relatively fast, informative and inexpensive way to identify the most bioactive organisms prior to further costly and elaborate pharmacological screenings. In this study, we investigated the presence and absence of chemical defenses of 14 different sea cucumber species from three families (Holothuriidae, Stichopodidae and Synaptidae) against ecological factors such as predation and pathogenic attacks. We used the different sea cucumber crude extracts as well as purified fractions an

SUBMITTER: Kamyab E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7587958 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature