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National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)

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    Comprehensive metabolomics of Philippine Stichopus cf. horrens reveals diverse classes of valuable small molecules for biomedical applications
    Torreno, Vicenzo Paolo M.; Molino, Ralph John Emerson J.; Junio, Hiyas A.; Yu, Eizadora T. (Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2023-12-06)
    Stichopus cf. horrens is an economically important sea cucumber species in Southeast Asia due to their presumed nutritional and medicinal benefits. However, compared to other sea cucumbers such as Apostichopus japonicus, there are no biochemical studies on which compounds contribute to the purported bioactivities of S. cf. horrens. To address this, a high-throughput characterization of the global metabolite profile of the species was performed through LC-MS/MS experiments and utilizing open-access platforms such as GNPS, XCMS, and metaboAnalyst. Bioinformatics-based molecular networking and chemometrics revealed the abundance of phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholines (PCs), phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs), phosphatidylinositols (PIs), and phosphatidylserines (PSs) in the crude samples. Body wall extracts were observed to have higher levels of structural, diacylated PCs, while the viscera have higher relative abundance of single-tail PCs and PEs that could be involved in digestion via nutrient absorption and transport for sea cucumbers. PEs and sphingolipids could also be implicated in the ecological response and morphological transformations of S. cf. horrens in the presence of predatory and other environmental stress. Interestingly, terpenoid glycosides and saponins with reported anti-cancer benefits were significantly localized in the body wall. The sulfated alkanes and sterols present in S. cf. horrens bear similarity to known kairomones and other signaling molecules. All in all, the results provide a baseline metabolomic profile of S. cf. horrens that may further be used for comparative and exploratory studies and suggest the untapped potential of S. cf. horrens as a source of bioactive molecules.
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    Genistein and daidzein from a sponge-associated fungus (Family: Microstromataceae) show dose and incubation time-dependent Ca2+ influx activity variation
    Azcuna, Miguel Enrique Ma.; Acyatan, Zildjian; Manzano, Geminne; Yu, Clairecynth; Aliño, Porfirio Alexander M.; Altamia, Marvin; Salvador-Reyes, Lilibeth; Concepcion, Gisela P. (Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology, 2023-10-31)
    The compounds genistein and daidzein were obtained from the broth culture of a fungus isolated from the Philippine blue sponge Xestospongia sp. Genomic sequencing (18S rRNA) resulted in no exact hits and low sequence similarity (91%) to two species of fungi under the family Microstromataceae: Sympodiomycopsis vantaiensis and Microstromatales sp. Genistein has gained attention in recent years because of its potential to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This is the first report of genistein and daidzein isolated from a marine-derived fungus. Genistein and daidzein have a wide range of biological activities (e.g., neuroprotective, antimicrobial, anticancer), and this study reports a variation in intracellular [Ca2+] levels in dorsal root ganglion cells (DRGs) post-administration depending on dose and incubation time. An incubation time of 10 min resulted in a block effect, which was evidenced by decreased intracellular [Ca2+] levels. A dose-response was observed as the intensity of intracellular [Ca2+] decreased further at a higher dose. Conversely, an incubation time of 5 min resulted in an increase effect which was evidenced by decreased intracellular [Ca2+] levels. The similarity of these compounds with potent estrogens indicates that estrogen-mediated receptor signaling is the mechanism of action for the increase effect. The block effect, however, could be caused by a variety of factors, such as neurotoxicity or an ER stress response that results in the release of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins. These findings confirm the ability of genistein to regulate [Ca2+] influx and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins. Further studies should investigate these mechanisms to understand the neuroprotective activities of genistein and daidzein.