Abstract
Marine algae produce a cocktail of halogenated metabolites with potential commercial value. Structures exhibited by these compounds go from acyclic entities with a linear chain to complex polycyclic molecules. Their medical and pharmaceutical application has been investigated for a few decades, however other properties, such as antifouling, are not to be discarded. Many compounds were discovered in the last years, although the need for new drugs keeps this field open as many algal species are poorly screened. The ecological role of marine algal halogenated metabolites has somehow been overlooked. This new research field will provide valuable and novel insight into the marine ecosystem dynamics as well as a new approach to comprehending biodiversity. Furthermore, understanding interactions between halogenated compound production by algae and the environment, including anthropogenic or global climate changes, is a challenging target for the coming years. Research of halogenated metabolites has been more focused on macroalgae than on phytoplankton. However, phytoplankton could be a very promising material since it is the base of the marine food chain with quick adaptation to environmental changes, which undoubtedly has consequences on secondary metabolism. This paper reviews recent progress on this field and presents trends on the role of marine algae as producers of halogenated compounds.
Highlights
Marine algae produce a wide variety of remarkable natural compounds, usually referred to as secondary metabolites because they are not involved in the basic machinery of life [1]
The prevalence of halogens is not similar in marine algae: chlorine and bromine appear to be the main halogens used to increase biological activity of secondary metabolites, whereas iodine and fluorine remain quite unusual within the chemical structures [5]
The present paper focuses on halogenated compounds only, and is restricted to micro and macroalgae as natural sources
Summary
Marine algae produce a wide variety of remarkable natural compounds, usually referred to as secondary metabolites because they are not involved in the basic machinery of life [1] These molecules often contribute to only a very small fraction of the organism total biomass [2], the contribution of these compounds to survival may sometimes be comparable to metabolites resulting from the primary metabolism [3]. Only less than 1% of secondary metabolites from of brown algae contain bromine or chlorine in contrast with as much as 90 and 7% of red and green algal compounds, respectively [7] Halogenation often provides these compounds with interesting key features and marine algae hold diverse and unique biosynthetic pathways for the production of halogenated metabolites. It attempts to provide an overview of new marine halogenated compounds reported in 2009 and to examine progress and present trends on the role of marine algae as producers of halogenated compounds
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