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Seaweeds represent some of the most important reservoirs of new remedial compounds for humans. The natural products obtained from seaweeds have received extensive consideration on account of their extraordinary dietary and pharmacology applications, having such antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, and anticancer properties and so on. Above all, there are a number of natural products that have demonstrated attractive value for the development of novel anticancer agents. This book chapter draws attention on colorectal cancer which is one of the main causes of cancer-related demise of human beings. This chapter also illustrates a range of active natural products extracted from seaweeds that have shown to eliminate or slow the progression of cancer. This also covers the mechanism through which these compounds can induce apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. By considering the ability of compounds present in seaweeds to act against colorectal cancers, this chapter highlights the potential use of seaweeds as anticancer agents.

Cadmium is a non-essential toxic heavy metal for organisms, including plants and cyanobacteria. Cadmium resistance transporters involved in resistance of cells against various toxicants such as drugs and effluxes cytotoxic compounds from cells. However, cadmium resistance-associated protein (CadD) has never been reported from a diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. To test whether the hypothetical protein All3255 of Anabaena sp. PCC7120 a homolog of cadmium resistance-associated protein (CadD) involved in cadmium or heavy metal resistance or not, cloning and heterologous expression analysis of all3255 performed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Our results revealed that the strain transformed with pGEX-5X-2 + all3255 showed resistant towards not only to cadmium but also other heavy metals such as nickel, copper, zinc, lead and cobalt in addition to arsenic than those of transformed with empty vector (pGEX-5X-2). Furthermore, the results of metal accumulation analysis of these cells unveil a lower accumulation of tested heavy metals in all3255-overexpressing E. coli cells than those transformed with empty vector. This study strongly supports the role of All3255 of Anabaena sp. PCC7120 as a CadD efflux pump of heavy metals in E.coli.

Cyanobacteria are a natural inhabitant of paddy field and enhance the crop productivity in an eco-friendly manner. Cadmium (Cd) is a perilous trace metal element which not only limits the crop productivity but also inhibits the growth and nitrogen-fixing ability of these diazotrophs as well as the biodiversity of rice field semiaquatic agroecosystems. However, the impact of Cd toxicity in diazotrophic cyanobacteria is yet not adequately addressed. Therefore, in the present study, three diazotrophic cyanobacterial species, i.e., Anabaena sp. PCC7120, Anabaena L31, and Anabaena doliolum were subjected to their LC50 doses of Cd, and their physiological (PSII, Psi, respiration, energy status and nitrogen fixation rate), biochemical variables (such as antioxidant contents and antioxidant enzymes) together with morphological parameters were evaluated. The results of physiological variables suggested that the Cd exposure adversely affects the photosynthesis, respiration, and biological nitrogen fixation ability across three Anabaena species. The results of biochemical variables in terms of accumulation of antioxidants (glutathione, thiol, phytochelatin and proline) content as well as antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase-peroxidase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) revealed that their inter-species stress tolerance behavior may be attributed to the differential accumulation of antioxidants as well as differential antioxidant enzyme activity in three species. Furthermore, the enhanced antioxidant enzymes activity such as GST, GR, CAT, and SOD in Anabaena L31 advocated significantly higher as compared to Anabaena PCC7120 and Anabaena doliolum. In conclusion, Cd-toxicity assessment regarding physiological, biochemical and morphological aspects across three species identified Anabaena L31 as Cd-resistant species than the other two tested species, i.e., Anabaena PCC7120 and Anabaena doliolum.

In silico analysis together with cloning, molecular characterization and heterologous expression reports that the hypothetical protein All5371 of Anabaena sp. PCC7120 is a novel hydroperoxide scavenging protein similar to AhpD of bacteria. The presence of E(X)11CX HC(X)3H motif in All5371 confers peroxidase activity and closeness to bacterial AhpD which is also reflected by its highest 3D structure homology with Rhodospirillum rubrum AhpD. Heterologous expression of all5371 complimented for ahpC and conferred resistance in MJF178 strain (ahpCF::Km) of Escherichia coli. All5371 reduced the organic peroxide more efficiently than inorganic peroxide and the recombinant E. coli strain following exposure to H2O2, CdCl2, CuCl2, heat, UV-B and carbofuron registered increased growth over wild-type and mutant E. coli transformed with empty vector. Appreciable expression of all5371 in Anabaena sp. PCC7120 as measured by qRT-PCR under selected stresses and their tolerance against H2O2, tBOOH, CuOOH and menadione attested its role in stress tolerance. In view of the above, All5371 of Anabaena PCC7120 emerged as a new hydroperoxide detoxifying protein.

This study examines response of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 to salt and UV-B stress by combining physiological, biochemical, proteomics and bioinformatics approaches. Sixty five significantly altered protein spots corresponding to 51 protein genes identified using MALDI-TOF MS/MS were divided into nine functional categories. Based on relative abundance, these proteins were grouped into four major sets. Of these, 27 and 5 proteins were up- and downregulated, respectively, both under salt and UV-B while 8 and 11 proteins showed accumulation in salt and UV-B applied singly. Some responses common to salt and UV-B included (i) enhanced expression of FeSOD, alr3090 and accumulation of MDA indicating oxidative stress, (ii) accumulation of PDH, G6P isomerase, FBPaldolase, TK, GAPDH and PGK suggesting enhanced glycolysis, (iii) upregulation of 6-PGD, 6PGL and NADPH levels signifying operation of pentose phosphate pathway, (iv) upregulation of Dps, NDK and alr3199 indicating DNA damage, and (v) accumulation of proteins of ribosome assembly, transcriptional and translational processing. In contrast, enhanced expression of RUBISCO, increased glycolate oxidase activity and ammonium content under salt signify the difference. Salt was found to be more damaging than UV-B probably due to a cumulative effect of ionic, osmotic and oxidative damage. A group of proteins having common expression represent decreased toxicity of salt and UV-B when applied in combination.

This study is the first to demonstrate cloning of alr0882, a hypothetical protein gene of Anabaena PCC7120, its heterologous expression in Escherichia coli strain LN29MG1655 (∆uspA::Kan) and functional complementation of abiotic stress tolerance of E. coli UspA. The recombinant vector pGEX-5X-2-alr0882 was used to transform ∆uspA E. coli strain. The IPTG induced expression of a 56.6kDa GST fusion protein was visualized on SDS-PAGE and attested by immunoblotting. E. coli ∆uspA strain harboring pGEX-5X-2-alr0882 when grown under carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur limitation and abiotic stresses e.g. nalidixic acid, cycloserine, CdCl(2), H(2)O(2), UV-B, phenazine methosulphate (PMS), dinitrophenol (DNP), NaCl, heat, carbofuron and CuCl(2) demonstrated about 22.6-51.6% increase in growth over the cells transformed with empty vector. Expression of alr0882 gene in mutant E. coli as measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR at different time points under selected treatments reaffirmed its role in tolerance against stresses employed in this study. Thus the results of this study vividly demonstrated that the novel protein alr0882, although appreciably different from the known UspA of E. coli, offers tolerance to abiotic stresses hence holds potential for the development of transgenic cyanobacteria.