Marine sponges provide unique and diverse niches for microbial communities, where bacterial symbionts can account for up to 60% of the mesohyl biomass. Since habitat diversity typically correlates with microbial diversity and in turn, chemical diversity, it is not surprising that marine sponges are known for their rich arsenal of bioactive secondary metabolites. A high percentage of these metabolites belong to an interesting family of brominated tyrosine derived alkaloids that display antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties. There is increasing evidence that the symbiotic microbes are the true producers of these secondary metabolites, rather than the invertebrate host. Since a great majority of sponge microbes do not remain viable in culture, access to their secondary metabolites is limited. Thus, new approaches are needed to address this major obstacle of sustainably fermenting bioactive metabolites. The objective of this research is to assess the microbial diversity of selected marine sponges and determine the ability of sponge-associated microbes to produce brominated bioactive compounds. This will be accomplished by combining conventional methods with novel molecular-based approaches to study key genes involved in the biosynthesis of brominated compounds. The origin of the genes will then provide evidence to determine the biosynthetic producers of these brominated bioactive metabolites.

 

 

2011-2013 Chemical Engineering, Hainan University

2013-present (transfer) Chemistry(Undergraduate), UPEI

CHEN Da, JIA Chun-man, ZHANG Chun-yan, ZHANG Qi, CAO Li, SUN Lu, LIANG Li-bang. Synthesis of γ-Nitro Ester Compounds by Solvent-free Ball-milling Method[J]. Fine Chemicals, 2014, 31(1): 124-128.