Marine Bioactive Compounds from Cnidarians

Abstract

Cnidaria is a large, diverse and ecologically important phylum of marine invertebrates, which includes corals, sea fans, anemones, and jellyfishes. It contains over 11000 Open image in new window species, 7500 Open image in new window of them belonging to the class Anthozoa. Over 3000 Open image in new window marine natural products have been described from this phylum alone, most of them in the twenty-first century. The present work provides an overview of some of the most promising marine bioactive compounds, from a therapeutic point of view, isolated from cnidarians since the year 2000. The order Alcyonacea (class Anthozoa) exhibits the highest number of species yielding promising compounds. Antitumor activity has been the major area of interest in the screening of cnidarian compounds, the most promising ones being terpenoids (monoterpenoids, diterpenoids, and sesquiterpenoids). Future trends and challenges for the bioprospecting of new marine bioactive compounds produced by cnidarians are also discussed, with emphasis on the sustainable production of target cnidarians biomass and the role played by symbiotic microorganisms in the synthesis of important biomolecules.