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Adiponectin secretion from the mature adipocytes plays beneficial roles in diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis, thereby diminishing the risk of metabolic syndrome. From the marine sponge Xestospongia testudinaria, we isolated five new brominated acetylenic fatty acids, including testufuran A, together with 11 known acetylenic acids. Most of them stimulated differentiation of preadipocytes to adipocytes and the resulting differentiated cells secreted adiponectin, which exhibits preferable effects toward a suite of conditions in cardiovascular disorders.

The history of taxonomic studies on Japanese sponges is reviewed. A literature-based list of Japanese sponge species is provided (see Appendix), which includes 636 species plus 16 subspecies, represented by all four classes in the phylum Porifera. Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most predominant and consist of 434 species, followed by calcareous sponges (Calcarea, 119 spp.), hexactinellid or glass sponges (Hexactinellida, 78 spp.), and homoscleromorph sponges (Homoscleromorpha, 5 spp.). Most of the species are poorly understood, and the taxonomic identity of each species should be investigated in future studies. Haliclona hoshinoi nom. nov. is herein proposed for Haliclona punctata Hoshino, 1981 (type locality: Ariake Sea, Japan) to avoid homonymy with Haliclona punctata Bergquist and Warne, 1980 (type locality: Christchurch, New Zealand).

LCMS analysis of the extract and a cytotoxicity assay of the HPLC fractions generated from a small-scale extract of a Lipastrotethya sp. marine sponge demonstrated the presence of bisindole alkaloids that were associated with the cytotoxic activity. Two bisindole alkaloids tethered by a guanidino ethylthiopyrazine moiety, dragmacidins G (1) and H (2), were isolated, and their structures were assigned by analysis of the MS and NMR data. They showed moderate cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells.

Yakushinamides A (1) and B (2), prolyl amides of polyoxygenated fatty acids, have been isolated from the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei as inhibitors of HDACs and SIRTs. Their planar structures were determined by interpretation of the NMR data of the intact molecules and tandem FABMS data of the methanolysis products. For the assignment of the relative configurations of the three contiguous oxymethine carbons in 1 and 2, Kishi's universal NMR database was applied to the methanolysis products. During the assignments of relative configurations of the isolated 1-hydroxy-3-methyl moiety in 1 and the isolated 1-hydroxy-2-methyl moiety in 2, we found diagnostic NMR features to distinguish each pair of diastereomers. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were determined by a combination of the modified Mosher's method and Marfey's method. Although the modified Mosher's method was successfully applied to the methanolysis product of 1, this method gave an ambiguous result at C-20 when applied to the methanolysis product of 2, even after oxidative cleavage of the C-14 and C-15 bond.

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the extract of the rare deep-sea marine sponge Pleroma sp.

Spirastrellolides A (1) and B (3) have been isolated as free acids from a marine sponge Epipolasis sp. collected in the East China Sea. These compounds had been isolated from the Caribbean marine sponge Spirastrella coccinea after conversion to the methyl ester. We examined the cytotoxic activities of 1 and 3 and found that the activities of the free acids are comparable to those of the corresponding methyl esters.

Cyclic peptides containing 5-hydroxytryptophan and thiazole moieties were isolated from the marine sponge Discodermia calyx collected near Shikine-jima Island, Japan. The structures of calyxamides A (1) and B (2), including the absolute configurations of all amino acids, were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses and degradation experiments. The structures are similar to keramamides F and G, previously isolated from Theonella sp. The analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences obtained from the metagenomic DNA of D. calyx revealed the presence of Candidatus Entotheonella sp., an unculturable δ-proteobacterium inhabiting the Theonella genus and implicated in the biosynthesis of bioactive peptides.

Two architecturally new isoquinolines, jasisoquinolines A and B, were isolated from a marine sponge Jaspis sp. as cathepsin B inhibitors. Their structures were determined by a combination of spectroscopic analyses and chemical methods. Both jasisoquinolines A and B inhibit cathepsin B with an IC(50) value of 10 μg/mL.

We investigated microorganisms associated with a deep-sea sponge, Characella sp. (Pachastrellidae) collected at a hydrothermal vent site (686 m depth) in the Sumisu Caldera, Ogasawara Island chain, Japan, and with two sponges, Pachastrella sp. (Pachastrellidae) and an unidentified Poecilosclerida sponge, collected at an oil seep (572 m depth) in the Gulf of Mexico, using polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) directed at bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences. In the PCR-DGGE profiles, we detected a single clearly dominant band in each of the Characella sp. and the unidentified Poecilosclerida sponge. BLAST search of their sequences showed that they were most similar (>99% identity) to those of the gammaproteobacterial thioautotrophic symbionts of deep-sea bivalves from hydrothermal vents, Bathymodiolus spp. Phylogenetic analysis of the near-full length sequences of the 16S rRNA genes cloned from the unidentified Poecilosclerida sponge and Characella sp. confirmed that they were closely related to thioautotrophic symbionts. Although associations between sponges and methanotrophic bacteria have been reported previously, this is the first report of a possible stable association between sponges and thioautotrophic bacteria. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10126-009-9253-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Four polyacetylenes related to petroformyne-1 were isolated from the marine sponge Petrosia sp. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic data and the modified Mosher analysis. They exhibit cytotoxic activity against P388 murine leukemia cells.

We have discovered new glycosylated fatty acid amides, stellettosides, from a Stelletta sp. marine sponge. They were detected through LC-MS analysis of the extract combined with the cytotoxicity assay of the prefractionated sample. Their planar structures were determined by analyses of the NMR and tandem FABMS data. Stellettosides A1 and A2 (1 and 2) as well as stellettosides B1-B4 (3-6) were obtained as inseparable mixtures. Careful analysis of the NMR and tandem FABMS data of each mixture, along with comparison of the tandem FABMS data with that of a synthetic model compound, permitted us to assign the structure of the constituents in the mixture. The absolute configuration of the monosaccharide unit was determined by LC-MS after chiral derivatization. The relative configurations of the vicinal oxygenated methines in the fatty acid chains were assigned by the (1)H NMR data of the isopropylidene derivative. The mixture of stellettosides B1-B4 (3-6) exhibit moderate cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells with an IC50 value of 9 μM, whereas the mixture of stellettosides A1 and A2 (1 and 2) was not active at a concentration of 10 μM.

Two pyridoacridines, N-hydroxymethylisocystodamine (I) and neolabuanine A (II) together with six known compounds are isolated from the title sponge.

International audience; Two pyridoacridines, N-hydroxymethylisocystodamine (1) and neolabuanine A (2), together with the known ecionine A (3), ecionine B (4), isocystodamine (5), N-methylisocystodamine (6), 9-hydroxyisoascididemin (7), and biemnadin (8), were isolated from a marine sponge Biemna sp. Several of these compounds were shown to induce cell differentiation of K562 leukemia cells into erythrocytes. Following inspection of the NMR data, and comparison of these data with literature values, we demonstrated that neolabuanine A (2) had the structure previously reported as labuanine A (2), and that the compound initially reported under the name of labuanine A possessed the structure assigned to ecionine A (3). We found that both neolabuanine A (2) and ecionine A (3) were gradually converted to 9-hydroxyisoascididemin (7), indicating that 2 and 3 can be considered both as precursors of 7.

Two pyridoacridines closely related to the known isocystodamine were isolated from the marine sponge Biemna sp. together with isocystodamine. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic data. They induce the erythroid differentiation of human leukemia K562 cells with an ED50 value of 5 nM each.

Two cytotoxic peptides, yaku'amides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the marine sponge Ceratopsion sp. Their planar structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data, whereas the absolute configurations were determined by a combination of the Marfey's analysis and dansylation analysis of the total and partial acid hydrolysis products. The growth inhibitory profile of yaku'amide A against a panel of 39 human cancer cell lines was clearly unique and distinguished from other anticancer drugs.

A cyclic peptide was isolated from the deep-sea marine sponge Discodermia japonica, and its NMR spectroscopic data were identical to those reported for cyclolithistide A, a known antifungal depsipeptide. However, the interresidue HMBC correlations suggested that the amino acid sequence was different from that of the original structure. Moreover, chiral-phase GC-MS, combined with Marfey’s analysis, indicated that the absolute configurations of three amino acids were also antipodal. Here, we propose the revised structure of cyclolithistide A and address the configuration of the previously unassigned 4-amino-3,5-dihydroxyhexanoic acid (Adha) moiety.

A new lipopeptide, ciliatamide D (1), was isolated from a marine sponge Stelletta sp., collected at Oshimashinsone, together with the known compound ciliatamide A (2). Ciliatamide D (1) is a congener of 2, in which N-Me-Phe is replaced by N-Me-Met(O). Marfey's analysis of the acid hydrolysate of 1 demonstrated that the two constituent amino acids were both in the l-form. This result prompted us to carefully investigate the configuration of 2, resulting in the assignment of the l-form for both residues.

Six linear acetylenes, (−)-duryne (1) and (−)-durynes B–F (2–6), were isolated from the marine sponge Petrosia sp. Their structures were elucidated by NMR and tandem FABMS analyses. The positions of the olefinic bonds were confirmed by ozonolysis experiments, and the absolute configurations were determined by the modified Mosher’s method. Compound 1 was found to be the enantiomer of duryne, a previously reported sponge metabolite. Compounds 1–6 show cytotoxicity against HeLa cells with IC50 values between 0.08 and 0.50 μM.