Abstract
To identify the metabolite distribution in ascidian, we have applied an integrated liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS) metabolomics approach to explore and identify patterns in chemical diversity of invasive ascidian Styela plicata. A total of 71 metabolites were reported among these alkaloids, fatty acids and lipids are the most dominant chemical group. Multivariate statistical analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation according to chemical diversity and taxonomic groups. PCA and partial least square discriminant analysis were applied to discriminate the chemical group of S. plicata crude compounds and classify the compounds with unknown biological activities. In this study, we reported for the first time that a partially purified methanol extract prepared from the ascidian S. plicata and Ascidia mentula possess antitumor activity against four tumor cell lines with different tumor histotype, such as HeLa (cervical carcinoma), HT29 (colon carcinoma), MCF-7 (breast carcinoma) and M14 (melanoma). S. plicata fraction SP-50 showed strong inhibition of cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in HeLa and HT29 cells, thus indicating S. plicata fraction SP-50 a potential lead compound for anticancer therapy. The molecular mechanism of action and chemotherapeutic potential of these ascidian unknown biomolecules need further research.
Highlights
Ascidian species possess a broad range of biodiversity of marine natural products (MNPs) because of their great ability to synthesize bioactive substances and serve as a vital source of new therapeutics
Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–mass spectrometry (MS)) metabolomic analysis was performed for the rapid identification of novel biomolecules from both ascidians S. plicata and A. mentula MeOH crude compounds
From an ecological perspective, the metabolome data suggest that secondary metabolites could apparently account chemical defense in ascidian S. plicata and rich resource of compounds with cytotoxic properties
Summary
Ascidian species possess a broad range of biodiversity of marine natural products (MNPs) because of their great ability to synthesize bioactive substances and serve as a vital source of new therapeutics. Metabolomics using mass spectrometry (MS) techniques allows qualitative and quantitative profiling of small biomolecules in marine organisms This novel approach can be applied to reveal metabolic differences between ascidian species, to find differences in their profiles and to identify novel potential chemical lead for clinical biomarker discovery. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomic profiling provides a potent approach to quantifying and identifying the chemical diversity of living organisms and developing metabolic maps It has been wildly applied in food and nutritional science, pharmacology and toxicology research, functional genomics, drug discovery to clinical development of new drugs and quality control of chemotaxonomic identification of flora and fauna[6]. The recent development in the field of natural products chemistry and LC–MS/NMR-based metabolomics research on marine origin secondary metabolites exhibits diverse range of biological properties for developing new therapies to improve the health of individuals across the universe
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