Marine natural products can be defined as biologically active products such as secondary metabolites, enzymes, lipids, and heteropolysaccharides.
Marine Pharmacognosy is a sub-branch of pharmacognosy which is mainly concerned with the naturally occurring substances of medicinal value from the marine.
Marine macroalgae/seaweed is used as a crude drug to treat iodine deficiency-Goitre, hypothyroidism, for Example- Nori seaweed, Kombu, etc.
2. CONTENTS
Marine Natural Products 2
• Introduction
• Uses
• Challenges related to Marine Products
• General method of Isolation and Purification
• Study of Marine Toxins
• Recent advances in Research
• Problems faced in Research of Marine Drug and Solutions
3. INTRODUCTION
Marine Natural Products 3
• Marine natural products can be defined as biologically active products as secondary metabolites as
well as enzymes, lipids, and heteropolysaccharides. [1]
• Marine Pharmacognosy is a sub-branch of pharmacognosy which is mainly concerned with the
naturally occurring substances of medicinal value from the marine. [2]
• Marine macroalgae/seaweed used as a crude drug to treat iodine deficiency-Goitre,
hypothyroidism, Example- Nori seaweed, Kombu, etc.. [3]
Nori Kombu
5. CHALLENGES RELATED TO MARINE PRODUCTS
Marine Natural Products 5
• 70% of Earth surface represents the ocean
• It is the largest habitat of the earth with high biological and chemical diversity.
• About 30,000 marine compounds are known.
• Since 2008, 1000 compounds are identified each year.
• For a long period marine natural products are used from fish and marine algae.
• Some examples are- biopolymer agar, vitamins A, D from fish liver oil, etc… [4]
6. CONTINUED…….
Marine Natural Products 6
The first two Indian – trained marine medicine specialists were available to the
Submarine Arm in 1980.
They provide support for escape
training,
maintenance and
development of submarine escape
rescue equipment,
for diving operations
primary function as doctors.
7. CONTINUED…..
Marine Natural Products 7
Dangers in the ocean that can affect divers include
Marine life,
Marine infections,
Polluted water,
Ocean currents,
Waves and surges and
Man-made hazards such as boats,
Fishing lines and
Underwater construction [5]
8. GENERAL METHOD OF ISOLATION AND PURIFICATION
Marine Natural Product 8
1. Method of Isolation
a. Conventional method of extraction
Maceration
Percolation
Soxhlet Extraction
b. Modern method of extraction/ Non-conventional method
Supercritical-fluid extraction
Subcritical water extraction
Ultrasound assisted extraction
Microwave assisted extraction [6]
2. Method of Purification
a. Membrane filtration
b. Gel filtration chromatography
c. Ion exchange chromatography
d. High-performance liquid chromatography [7]
10. METHOD OF ISOLATION
10
• Marine macroalgae - a rich source of
bioactive compounds that can be
implemented in various food, cosmetics,
and pharmaceutical products for health
improvement.
• Bioactive compounds- polyphenols,
polysaccharides, carotenoids, and ω-3 fatty
acids.
• Marine algae, also called seaweeds, are
divided into three classes depending on
their chemical structure and pigment
distribution.
• These classes are brown algae
(Phaeophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta), and
green algae (Chlorophyta).
13. 1. SUPER-CRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION
Marine Natural Products 13
• SFE is based on the principle of extraction with fluids in their supercritical conditions, temperature, and
pressure is raised above their critical point with characteristics of both liquids and gases.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most used solvent for SFE due to its nontoxicity, safety, and low cost.
• Major advantage of supercritical fluid is increased mass transfer due to low viscosity and higher
diffusion coefficient.
• Supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) can extract only nonpolar or compounds of low polarity since it is a
nonpolar solvent
• But the extraction of polar compounds can be enhanced by adding small amounts of polar co-solvents
such as ethanol or methanol.
• CO2 has low critical temperature and pressure, which means that bioactive compounds stay preserved
and no degradative changes can occur.
• Usually the extracts, obtained with SC-CO2, contain groups of compounds, like fatty acids, phytosterols,
tocopherols, phenolics, carotenoids, and triglycerides.
16. 2. SUBCRITICAL WATER EXTRACTION
Marine Natural Products 16
• SWE operates at high temperatures (50–200 °C) and pressures (50–300 psi) for
a short period (5–10 min) with a small amount of solvent.
• The solvents are maintained near their critical region in the liquid state with the
help of applied temperature and pressure, keeping the solvents below their
boiling point.
• SWE is environmentally friendly extraction because of water, which is used as
a solvent instead of using organic solvents.
• In addition, it offers higher extraction yields because the permeability of
solvent into the material is enhanced and there is no influence on the extracted
bioactive compounds.
• But, the extraction time must be controlled because degradation of compounds
may occur.
19. 3.ULTRASOUND ASSISTED EXTRACTION
Marine Natural Products 19
• UAE uses ultrasound waves with a frequency above 20 kHz to 100 kHz.
• These waves cause the creation of bubbles and zones of high and low pressure.
• When bubbles collapse in the strong ultrasound field, which causes the breakdown
of particles, bioactive compounds are released from the biological matrix.
• Ultrasonic bath operates at a frequency of 40–50 kHz and a power of 50–500 W,
• But an ultrasonic probe can operate only by the frequency of 20 kHz.
• Costs of the equipment are lower than the other alternative extraction techniques
and a wide variety of solvents can be used.
• UAE operates with low temperatures which enable the preservation of
thermolabile compounds and prevent complete damage to the structure.
• Low amounts of solvent are used and the working time of extraction is reduced,
which makes UAE a fast, inexpensive method as compared to traditional methods
21. CONT….
Marine Natural Products 21
• Example
Macroalgae
Species
Ultrasound Operating Conditions
Bioactive
Compoun
ds
Bioactivity
Ultrasoun
d
Equipmen
t;
Frequenc
y [kHz];
Power
[W]
Sample
Mass [g]
Solvent
Volume
[mL]
Temp.
[°C]
Time
[min]
Hormosira
banksii
Ultrasonic
bath;
50;
150–250
1
50 (70%
ethanol)
30, 40
and 50
20, 40
and 60
Polyphen
ols
Antioxidan
t
Ascophyllum
nodosum
Ultrasoun
d probe;
20;
750
4
40
(distilled
water and
0.03 M
HCl)
- 10
Polyphen
ols,
fucose
and
uronic
acid
-
22. 4. MICROWAVE-ASSISTED EXTRACTION
Marine Natural Products 22
• MAE is based on ionic conduction and dipole rotation which act directly on the
molecules and occur simultaneously.
• Microwave heating causes absorption of energy by molecules where no heat is lost
into the environment.
• Due to absorption of energy by polar molecules, disruption of cells is inevitable.
• Destructed cells facilitate faster mass transfer (constituents).
• MAE can be performed in open or closed vessels.
• Open vessels operate at atmospheric pressure, while closed vessels operate at a
pressure that is higher than atmospheric.
• Due to operation at atmospheric pressure, open vessels can be more effective,
safer, and it is possible to process larger samples.
• Also, process conditions are suitable for thermolabile compounds.
• An advantage of MAE is that it is an economical and environmentally friendly
process because of the reduced process time and solvent amount. [6]
24. CONT….
Marine Natural Products 24
• Example
Macroalgae
Species
Ultrasound Operating Conditions
Bioactive
Compounds
Power [w];
Frequency
[MHz]
Solvent Temp. [°C] Time [min]
Enteromorpha
prolifera
300–700;
-
10–60%
ethanol
-
5–40 (1–4
cycles)
Polyphenols
Carpophyllum
flexuosum
-
H2O, acetone,
ethanol,
propan-1-ol,
ethyl acetate
135, 160 and
185
1, 3, 5, 10, 15
and 20
Phloroglucinol
25. METHOD OF PURIFICATION
Marine Natural Products 25
1. Membrane filtration
Membrane filtration can be used at different
levels.
Ultrafiltration with a high molecular weight
cut-off (MWCO) can be used for the
separation of macropeptides and
nonhydrolyzed proteins.
Membrane filtration can operate at normal
temperature, and there are no chemical
reactions during the process.
Membrane filtration can provide a large
number of separations compared to other
chromatographic separations.
26. Marine Natural Products 26
2. Gel Filtration Chromatography
Gel filtration chromatography (GFC), also called size exclusion chromatography,
For the separation, desalting, and molecular weight estimation of peptides and
proteins.
GFC is the simplest and mildest of all of the chromatography techniques
Separates molecules on the basis of differences in size.
27. CONT….
Marine Natural Products 27
Some smaller molecules enter the pores of the gel and travel a longer distance,
While larger molecules show much shorter retention times.
Advantage of GFC is that elution conditions can be varied to suit the type of
sample
Some limitations, such as the loading amount being rarely compared to the
membrane filtration and collecting sample costing a lot of time.
28. Marine Natural Products 28
3. Ion Exchange Chromatography
IEX media have charged functional groups that bind molecules with an
opposite charge.
Bound molecules are eluted from the medium by displacement, via the
application of an increasing concentration of a similarly charged molecule.
Proteins have numerous functional groups that can have either positive or
negative charges.
By adjusting the pH or the ionic concentration of the mobile phase, proteins
can be separated.
IEX is used for capturing the target protein or bulk impurities from large
volumes.
As an intermediate purification step or as a final step for high-resolution
purification to remove impurities.
30. Marine Natural Products 30
4. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
HPLC is the most widely used technique for the separation, identification, and
purification of bioactive peptides.
In addition, RP-HPLC can be used to fractionate peptides based on their
hydrophobic properties.
The main advantages as it always uses a short time to get the elution spectra
compared to the GFC and IEX.
In recent years, there are many researchers that have used HPLC to purify marine
organisms, like Enteromorpha, Cyanobacterium, Thornback Ray, Sponge, Tuna,
Marine Snail, and so forth.
HPLC also has some limitations, like chromatographic columns being expensive,
Elution composition containing an organic solvent and being environmentally
unfriendly, and so forth. [7]
33. MARINE TOXINS
Marine Natural Products 33
• Microorganisms from the sea which are
autotrophic, also act as a source of toxins.
• These toxins are both ectocrine or external
metabolites and endotoxins.
• Such endotoxin are some of the most potent
materials.
• The best-known marine biotoxins and
tetradotoxin, paralytic shellfish toxin, and
ciguatera toxin.
34. Marine Natural Products 34
1. Ciguatoxin
It is present in red tide dinoflagellate Gam bier discuss – toxins.
The term “Ciguatoxin” was first used to describe an ailment associated with the ingestion
of marine snails.
Ciguatoxin is the factor isolated from pacific red snapper and considered to exert toxicity
i.e., ciguatera poisoning.
The toxin symptoms are associated with neurological, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal
systems
Like respiratory depression and bradycardia, the release of nor-epinephrine from the
presynaptic sides in the neuromuscular junction of guinea pig, etc.
35. Marine Natural Products 35
2. Palytoxin
It is a long chain polyhydroxy macromolecule present in Palythoa species
and is the most potent coronary vasoconstrictor.
Palytoxin can exert a full effect on coronary arteries in an isolated guinea
pig heart even at very low concentrations.
Besides such effect it also has actions on nervous tissues and muscles.
It elevates T wave and S-T segment in ECG of Rat, Dog, and Guinea Pig.
36. Marine Natural Products 36
3. Red Tide Toxins (Paralytic Shell Fish Toxins)
These include brevetoxins, saxitoxin, gonyautoxin, etc.
These causes a change in color of the water surface, like yellow, brown, green,
and not always red.
They are dinoflagellates which bloom periodically and contain peridinin, a red-
colored pigment.
The most deleterious among them are :
- Gonyaulax catenella giving Saxitoxin.
- G.Tamerenin which gives Gonyautoxin
- Ptychodiscus breuis gives Brevetoxin
37. Marine Natural Products 37
Adverse Conditions like
-O2 deficiency,
-an environmental imbalance of nutrients,
-accumulation of H2,
-Sulphide in the surrounding,
-Red tides exert drastic effects due to their toxins
and may turn a rich fauna into a biological dessert.
38. Marine Natural Products 38
• Marine toxins have not yet been introduced in Clinical medicine.
• They might prove to be useful as a research tool in investigating the process of
biolectogenesis, chemical transmission, etc.
• Research work- Biochemistry from Ottawa in Canada
- found a protein in sea tortoise which is present in blood cells.
- because of this protein (not named) tortoise can lower the temperature of
its body fluid below freezing point.
- such protein may be employed to facilitate certain surgical operations
like cardiac surgery where it is essentials to lower the body temperature
to an appreciable level. [8]
39. RECENT ADVANCES IN RESEARCH IN MARINE DRUGS
Marine Natural Products 39
Currently, natural product-derived therapeutics are mostly developed from
compounds of terrestrial origins.
Recently, the research focus for natural products has been shifted from terrestrial
to marine sources. (because- superior chemical and biological novelties).
In general, natural molecules isolated from the marine environment show higher
and more significant bioactivity than those from the terrestrial environment.
40. CONT…
Marine Natural Products 40
In cytotoxicity screenings, approximately 1% of the tested marine samples
showed anti-tumor potentials versus 0.1% of the tested terrestrial samples.
Marine natural product research faced several challenges, ranging from
limited access to the marine environment to chemical and biological
characterizations of promising natural products.
Advancement in sampling techniques and structural determination
strategies have played crucial roles in the recent progress of marine drug
discovery.
41. Marine Natural Products 41
1. Sampling Techniques
• Sampling in the ocean requires specific techniques
and sophisticated equipment.
• This hurdle has been the main reason for the
limited exploration of natural products in the
oceanic environment.
• This submersible has produced several impressive
achievements in research
• The origin of deep submersible was motivated by
biologist William Beebe, who observed fish and
other diverse forms of deep-sea life with the naked
eye in 1934.
42. CONT…
Marine Natural Products 42
• After several decades, a human-occupied deep submergence
vehicle, SHINKAI 6500, was launched in 1991, and was capable of diving to the
maximum depth of 6500 m.
• This submersible has produced several impressive achievements in research on the
topography and geology of the ocean floor, as well as life inhabiting the deep seas
• Because of the cost and risk, human-occupied vehicles cannot be used in research
at depths greater than 6500 m.
43. CONT…
Marine Natural Produts 43
• So far, KAIKO is one of the deepest diving devices which is capable of diving to a
maximum depth of 10,000 m.
• Since 2009, more than 4400 novel marine natural compounds have been
identified.
44. Marine Natural Products 44
2. Structural Determination
• Modern research for marine natural products has relied heavily on fractionation based
on the combination of a valid fractionation by a high-resolution separation technique
and detection systems.
• Combining different instrumentations as hyphenated devices, such as
-CE-MS (capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry),
-HPLC-MS (high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry),
or HPLC-NMR (high-performance liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic
resonance)
for separation and detection, is one of the most active research fields in modern
analytical chemistry.
• These techniques play a predominant role in natural product discovery-related fields
such as phytochemistry or pharmacognosy. [9]
46. Marine Natural Products 46
3. Tyrosinase Inhibitors from marine algae (Enteromorpha
species) [Lima Rodriguesa, Supriya Tilvi b, Michelle S. Fernandes, etc.]
• Marine green macroalgae Enteromorpha sp. belonging to family Ulvaceae.
• It houses numerous bioactive secondary metabolites such as sterols, chlorophyll-
related compounds, phenolic polyketides, α-pyridones, polysaccharides, etc.
• Tyrosinase enzyme, also known as polyphenol oxidase is a complex copper-holding
enzyme, found in prokaryotes as well as in eukaryotes.
• It bio-catalyzes the biosynthesis of melanin from tyrosine through a chain of oxidative
reactions.
47. CONT…..
Marine Natural Products 47
• Melanin plays an essential role in protecting the skin from getting damaged upon
exposure to harmful UV radiations.
• Skin whitening is a classical issue in many human cultures.
• There are several synthetic, semi-synthetic, and natural tyrosinase inhibitors
derived from countless natural sources.
• Health safety is the primary motto, it has drawn the attention of scientific
researchers towards exploiting naturally occurring sources for tyrosinase
inhibitors.
• Crude methanol extract of Enteromorpha sp. mildly inhibited the mushroom
tyrosinase.
• It is also reported -major metabolites 4- hydroxycoumarin, ergosta-5,7,22-trien-
3β-ol, ergosterol peroxide, from the anti-tyrosinase active crude methanol extract
of Enteromorpha sp. [10]
48. Marine Natural Products 48
4. Synthesis of Varitriol: an Anti-tumour Agent from Marine-
Derived Fungus Emericella variecolor. [Mahesh S. Majik, Supriya Tilvi,
Prakash T. Parvatkar]
• Marine fungi are one of the important sources of natural products, exhibiting a
wide range of biological activities.
• (+)-Varitriol, has shown 100-fold increased potency over the mean toxicity
towards a variety of cancer cell lines.
• Varitriol (+)-5 is such a marine natural product isolated by Barrero and co-
workers.
• From a marine strain (M75-2) of the fungus Emericella variecolor along with
other metabolites-
-varioxirane 6 and
-dihydroterrein 7 (in the year 2002)
49. Marine Natural Products 49
• The fungus was isolated from a sponge collected in
Venezuelan waters of the Caribbean Sea.
• Varitriol shows more than 100-fold increased potency
toward
-RXF 393 (renal cancer),
-T-47D (breast cancer), and
-SNB-75 (CNS cancer) cell lines
and lower potency against prostate cancer, leukemia,
ovarian cancer, and colon cancer cell lines.
• Since 2006, about 15 total syntheses of varitriol have
been reported in the literature. [11]
CONT…
50. Marine Natural Products 50
5. Bryozoa
• Bryozoans such as moss animals and lace corals are abundant in marine
environments.
• Shallow water bryozoan species have produced such medicinally important
compounds as the anti-cancer and Anti-Alzheimer lead (lead Bryostatin 1 isolated
from Bugula neritina.)
• Deep water bryozoan metabolites, have been isolated from Amathia tortuosa. [12]
51. PROBLEM FACED IN RESEARCH AND SOLUTION
Marine Natural Products 51
1. Supply
Problem:
It is a critical point in the process of drug development from marine organisms.
Permanent availability of sufficient amounts of organisms and compounds without
harming the marine environment if a difficult process.
Only if supply can be addressed in an economically and ecologically feasible
fashion,
This marine drug will get a chance on the market.
52. CONT…
Marine Natural Products 52
Solution: Genetic Engineering
The principle of this method is the transfer of genetic information of the desired
compound into host cells.
This will be easier to cultivate and and get sustainable production of the compound in
the host cell.
Such techniques would permit the isolation and expression of genes of the organisms,
which can not be cultivated.
Till now, this approach is realized on a research-level but not on an industrial scale for
marketable marine drugs.
53. Marine Natural Products 53
2. Taxonomical Identification
Problem:
Lack of taxonomic knowledge for marine species,
And the still large number of unidentified species and
strains,
So this is a major blockage faced by marine natural products
programs.
The selection for- Pharmacological Purpose
- Macro and Micro-organism
either from terrestrial or marine, must be grounded on
correct taxonomic identification and classification.
Incorrect classification of species may compromise an entire
drug discovery project.
54. CONT….
Marine Natural Products 54
Solution:
Scientific community should be encouraged to publish
research journals that describe new Natural Products.
This should be done to improve their standards
concerning the Taxonomic identification and Geographic
information on the origin of screened biological material.
Such accurate information will ultimately maximize the
success of future screening efforts.
This also allows meta-analysis using cross-disciplinary
approaches that may lead to a significant breakthrough in
research.
55. Marine Natural Products 55
3. Chemical Screening
Problem:
The growing recognition that marine
microorganisms associated with invertebrates hosts
are involved in the biosynthesis of secondary
metabolites.
This offers new alternatives for the discovery and
development of marine natural products.
However, the discovery of microorganisms
producing secondary metabolites,
Which is, previously attributed to an invertebrate
host poses the significant challenge of efficient
chemical screening.
56. CONT…
Marine Natural Products 56
Solution:
Conventional activity-based screening, though today is driven by new
methodologies. (Such as – TLC, bioluminescence assay, Dilution Method, etc…)
Mining orphan secondary metabolic pathways.
Engineers know antibiotic pathways to make new molecules. [12]
57. 57
REFRENCES
1. Marine natural product – an overview by science
direct topics.
2. Marine pharmacognosy – Wikipedia
3. Pharmacognosy- Trease and Evans (page-115)
4. Marine-Derived Pharmaceuticals – Challenges and
Opportunities- Biomolecules and Therapeutics-NCBI
5. Impact and Challenges of Marine Medicine to Man
and its Environment – Poultry, Fisheries and Wildlife
Sciences.
6. Overview on the Application of Modern Methods for
the Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Marine
Macroalgae(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl
es/PMC6213729/)
7. Characterization, Preparation, and Purification of
Marine Bioactive
Peptides.(https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/201
7/9746720/)
8. Pharmacognosy- C.K.Kokate (17.7)
58. REFERENCES
9. Recent Advances and Applications of Experimental
Technologies in Marine Natural Product Research.
(https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/13/5/2694/htm)
10. Isolation and Identification of Tyrosinase Inhibitors
from Marine Algae Enteromorpha sp[Lima Rodriguesa,
Supriya Tilvib, Michelle S. Fernandes,
etc.](https://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/8604)
11. Recent developments towards the synthesis of Varitriol: An
antitumor agent from marine-derived fungus Emericella
variecolor.[Mahesh S. Majik, Supriya Tilvi, Prakash T.
Parvatkar](https://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4541)
12. Recent Advances in Marine Drugs.
(https://www.slideshare.net/VarshaSrivastav/recent-advances-
in-marine-drugs)
Marine Natural Products 58