Dendronephthya Gigantea Research Articles

An Encrusting Hard Coral Enclosing Soft Coral in the High-Latitude Asia–Pacific Marginal Distribution Zone

Environmentally adapted and resistant hard and soft coral communities within the high-latitude Asia–Pacific marginal distribution zone are thriving, despite their comparably stressful environment (unfavorable winter water temperature and light regimes). Korea’s Jeju Island is famous for its diverse and abundant soft coral communities, which coexist with reef-building hard corals. Although antagonistic interactions between soft and hard corals generally feature the soft coral as the winner, we observed a soft coral of the species Dendronephthya gigantea completely enclosed by the encrusting hard coral Montipora millepora accompanied by a general decrease in soft coral and increase in M. millepora abundances. This indicates an ongoing species/habitat shift with significant impacts on the current state of corals living at their geographic limit.

Sonication-assisted water extract of Dendronephthya gigantea exhibits anti-fine dust effects; attenuation of MAPK phosphorylation in macrophages

The Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka publishes the results of research in all aspects of Science and Technology. The journal also has a website at http://www.nsf.gov.lk/. 2021 Impact Factor: 0.682The JNSF provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Hepatoprotective activity and free radical scavenging against induction of CCl4 in an experimental model using dendronaphthya crude extract loaded chitosan nanocarrier

The encapsulation of soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (SCD) in biopolymers could be attributed to the nature of this extract. In the present work, chitosan nanoparticles (NCS) as natural biopolymer was prepared using sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) via ionic gelation method and then encapsulated with SCD. Firstly, GC-MS was used to determine the components of the SCD. More than Forty-components of SCD, constituting 89.94%, were identified. Secondly, to enhance the entrapment efficiency and encapsulating degree, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used to cap the whole product of NSC@SCD. The entrapment efficiency of PVA-capped NSC@SCD is higher than that of NSC@SCD and reached about 96%. Physical advanced tools such as TEM, DLS, and SEM were utilized to confirm the particle shape for the formed nanocomposite, affirming that the particles originated in a spherical shape with no noticeable agglomeration. Besides, PVA was found to protect the produced nanocomposite from agglomeration and exhibit the latter homogenous structure. After that, rats with approximately the same weight were divided into seven groups and treated with different formulas to evaluate hepatoprotective activity against induction of CCl4 of the prepared nanocomposites loaded with SCD. Form the obtained resultants, it can be observed that the nanocomposite has a positive effect on the treated rats via improving in the values of catalase activity (CA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) with a significant decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) values. It was also observed that the level of liver enzymes closely resembles the untreated rat group. The obtained data also proved that nanocomposite based on NSC@SCD exhibited high albumin and total protein level. Thus, It can be concluded that the extract (SCD) loaded chitosan nanoparticles (NSC) is considered a promising formula to be used in medicinal domains.

The Draft Genome of an Octocoral, Dendronephthya gigantea.

Coral reefs composed of stony corals are threatened by global marine environmental changes. However, soft coral communities of octocorallian species, appear more resilient. The genomes of several cnidarians species have been published, including from stony corals, sea anemones, and hydra. To fill the phylogenetic gap for octocoral species of cnidarians, we sequenced the octocoral, Dendronephthya gigantea, a nonsymbiotic soft coral, commonly known as the carnation coral. The D. gigantea genome size is ∼276 Mb. A high-quality genome assembly was constructed from PacBio long reads (29.85 Gb with 108× coverage) and Illumina short paired-end reads (35.54 Gb with 128× coverage) resulting in the highest N50 value (1.4 Mb) reported thus far among cnidarian genomes. About 12% of the genome is repetitive elements and contained 28,879 predicted protein-coding genes. This gene set is composed of 94% complete BUSCO ortholog benchmark genes, which is the second highest value among the cnidarians, indicating high quality. Based on molecular phylogenetic analysis, octocoral and hexacoral divergence times were estimated at 544 MYA. There is a clear difference in Hox gene composition between these species: unlike hexacorals, the Antp superclass Evx gene was absent in D. gigantea. Here, we present the first genome assembly of a nonsymbiotic octocoral, D. gigantea to aid in the comparative genomic analysis of cnidarians, including stony and soft corals, both symbiotic and nonsymbiotic. The D. gigantea genome may also provide clues to mechanisms of differential coping between the soft and stony corals in response to scenarios of global warming.

A Steroid-Type Antioxidant Targeting the Keap1/Nrf2/ARE Signaling Pathway from the Soft Coral Dendronephthya gigantea.

Four new steroids, named 7-dehydroerectasteroid F (1), 11α-acetoxyarmatinol A (2), 22,23-didehydroarmatinol A (3), and 3-O-acetylhyrtiosterol (4), together with 11 previously described analogues, were isolated from a South China Sea collection of the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea. The structures of the new steroids were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with previously reported data. Compound 1 showed potent protection against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in neuron-like PC12 cells by promoting nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and enhancing the expression of HO-1. 1 represents the first steroid-type antioxidant from marine organisms.

Soft corals collected from Jeju Island inhibits the \u03b1-MSH-induced melanogenesis in B16F10 cells through activation of ERK

In the present study, we first evaluated the melanin inhibitory effect of four crude 70% ethanol extracts separated from soft corals abundantly growing along the seawaters of Jeju Island, South Korea, including Dendronephthya castanea (DC), Dendronephthya gigantea (DG), Dendronephthya puetteri (DP), and Dendronephthya spinulosa (DS). Among the four ethanol extracts, the ethanol extract of DP (DPE) did not possess any cytotoxic effect on B16F10 cells. However, all other three extracts showed a cytotoxic effect. Also, DPE reduced the melanin content and the cellular tyrosinase activity without cytotoxicity, compared to the α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells. Specifically, DPE downregulated the expression levels of tyrosinase and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor by activating the ERK signaling cascade in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells. Interestingly, the melanin inhibitory effect of DPE was abolished by the co-treatment of PD98059, an ERK inhibitor. According to these results, we suggest that DPE has whitening capacity with the melanin inhibitory effects by activating ERK signaling and could be used as a potential natural melanin inhibitor for cosmeceutical products.Graphical Molecular mechanisms associated with melanin inhibitory effect of soft coral extracts against α-MSH induced B16F10 cells

Apoptotic and antiproliferative effects of Stigmast-5-en-3-ol from Dendronephthya gigantea on human leukemia HL-60 and human breast cancer MCF-7 cells

The genus Dendronephthya encompasses marine soft corals that produce a wide spectrum of biofunctional terpenoids. Anticancer properties of these metabolites are widely exploited as potential chemotherapeutic agents. The present study reports the purification and isolation of a potential antiproliferative constituent, stigmast-5-en-3-ol from the 70% ethanol extract of the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea. Among several other 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroidal congeners, stigmast-5-en-3-ol indicated prominent antiproliferative effects on HL-60 (leukemia) and MCF-7 (breast cancer) cell lines with IC50 values of 37.82 and 45.17 μg/ml respectively. Stigmast-5-en-3-ol increased apoptotic body formation, accumulation of sub G1 apoptotic cells, and DNA damage in HL-60 and MCF-7 cells. It increased the expression of Bax, caspases, and PARP cleavage while decreasing Bcl-xL levels in both cancer cell lines indicating that the effects are arbitrated via the mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway. Steroidal derivatives were identified by GC MS/MS and the identity of stigmast-5-en-3-ol was confirmed by NMR spectra. The present study suggests that stigmast-5-en-3-ol could be a promising candidate for anticancer drug research.

Developmental toxicity and anti-inflammatory effect of the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea collected from Jeju Island in zebrafish model

Recent in vitro studies have demonstrated that extract of soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (SCDE) had strong anti-inflammatory activities. However, the direct effects of SCDE on anti-inflammatory activities in vivo model remained to be determined. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of SCDE using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated zebrafish model. We also investigated whether SCDE has toxic effects in zebrafish model. The survival, heart beat rate, and developmental abnormalities were no significant change in the zebrafish embryos exposed to at a concentration below 100 μg/ml of SCDE. However, lethal toxicity was caused after exposure to 200 and 400 μg/ml of SCDE. Treating zebrafish model with LPS treatment significantly increased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) generation. However, SCDE inhibited this LPS-stimulated ROS and NO generation in a dose-dependent manner. These results show that SCDE alleviated inflammation by inhibiting the ROS and NO generation induced by LPS treatment. In addition, SCDE has a protective effect against the cell damage induced by LPS exposure in zebrafish embryos. This outcome could explain the profound anti-inflammatory effect of SCDE both in vitro as well as in vivo, suggesting that the SCDE might be a strong anti-inflammatory agent.

Apoptotic and antiproliferative properties of 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroidal congeners from a partially purified column fraction of Dendronephthya gigantea against HL-60 and MCF-7 cancer cells.

Organisms belonging to the genus Dendronephthya are among a group of marine invertebrates that produce a variety of terpenoids with biofunctional properties. Many of these terpenoids have been proven effective as anticancer drugs. Here, we report the antiproliferative effect of 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroidal congeners against the proliferation of HL-60 human leukemia cells and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. The sterol-rich fraction (DGEHF2-1) inhibited the growth of HL-60 and MCF-7 cells with IC50 values of 13.59±1.40 and 29.41±0.87μg ml-1 respectively. Treatment with DGEHF2-1 caused a dose-dependent increase in apoptotic body formation, DNA damage and the sub-G1 apoptotic cell population. Moreover, DGEHF2-1 downregulated the expression of Bcl-xL while upregulating Bax, caspase-9, and PARP cleavage in both HL-60 and MCF-7 cells. The steroid fraction was found to act via the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway. Identification of the sterols was performed via gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Studying the mechanism of the anticancer effect caused by these sterol derivatives could lead to the identification of other natural products with anticancer properties.

Identification of sterols from the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea and their anti-inflammatory potential

Exploration of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals has received tremendous attention worldwide owing to the rapid increase in inflammatory diseases. Current study reveals the identification of eight 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroidal congeners from a nonpolar column fraction of the ethanol solubles from the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea collected from Jeju Island South Korea, using GC–MS/MS analysis. The sterol-rich fraction (DGEH21) showed a significant anti-inflammatory activity as exhibited by the inhibition of NO production (IC50 4.33±0.50μg/mL) and PGE2 production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. It also suppressed the expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, DGEH21 effectively downregulated the expression levels of iNOS, and COX-2 and reduced NO and ROS production as well as cell death in LPS-stimulated in-vivo zebrafish embryo model. However, DGEH21 at relatively high concentrations indicated cytotoxicity in both RAW cells and zebrafish embryos with RAW cell viability being nearly 80% after treatment with 25μg/mL DGEH21. This study highlights the synergistic anti-inflammatory activity of several steroids found in D. gigantea. Their actions may be useful in the development of anti-inflammatory cosmeceuticals, pharmaceutical agents, and other consumer products.

Anti-proliferative effect of eight ethanolic extracts from soft corals on human leukemia cell line HL-60.

In the present study, authors evaluate the anticancer effects of eight crude extracts from 70% ethanol extracts of soft corals collected around Jeju Island, South Korea. According to the cytotoxicity results, extracts are not cytotoxic to Vero cells at the highest tested concentration (100 μg/mL), which indicates that they are not cytotoxic to the normal cells. However, one of the tested extracts, Dendronephthya gigantea (DGI) extract, significantly reduced the viability of human leukemia cell line (HL-60) with IC50 value of 84.43 μg/mL. In addition, Hoechst 33342 cell permeable dye used to visualize the apoptotic nuclei in DGItreated HL-60 cells. These results suggest that DGI has the potential to induce apoptosis in HL-60 cells without altering viability of normal Vero cells. In conclusion, DGI might have the great potential to be developed into an anticancer drug in the future.

Sterols from a soft coral, Dendronephthya gigantea as farnesoid X-activated receptor antagonists

Three new steroids 3-oxocholest-1,22-dien-12β-ol (1), 3-oxocholest-1,4-dien-20β-ol (2), 3-oxocholest-1,4-dien-12β-ol (3), and three known steroids (20S)-20-Hydroxyergosta-1,4,24(28)-trien-3-one (4) [7a], 5α,8α-Epidioxycholesta-6,22-dien-3β-ol (5) [10] and 5-cholestene-3β,12β-diol (6) [11] were isolated from a soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea. Their chemical structures and relative stereochemistry were elucidated by the analysis of HRMS and 2-D NMR spectroscopic data. The steroids 1 and 2 showed notable inhibitory activity against farnesoid X-activated receptor (FXR) with IC50’s 14 and 15μM.

The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Dendronephthya gigantea (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Nephtheidae)

We sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome of Dendronephthya gigantea (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Nephteidae), the first mitochondrial genome sequence report in the Family Nephtheidae. The mitochondrial genome of D. gigantea was 18,842 bp in length, and contained 14 protein coding genes (atp6 and 8, cox1-3, cytb, nd1-6 and 4L, and msh1), two ribosomal RNAs, and only one transfer RNA. The gene content and gene order is identical to other octocorals sequenced to date. The portion of the noncoding regions is slightly larger than the other octocorals (5.08% compared to average 3.98%). We expect that the information of gene content, gene order, codon usage, noncoding region and protein coding gene sequence could be used in the further analysis of anthozoan phylogeny.

Molecular Phylogeny and Divergence Time Estimation of the Soft Coral Dendronephthya gigantea (Alcyonacea: Nephtheidae)

Soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (Verrill, 1864) is a conspicuous species dominating shallow sea waters of Jejudo Island, Korea. Recently its whole mitochondrial genome sequencing was completed by us and the sequence information provided an opportunity to test the age of Octocorallia and time of evolutionary separation between some representative orders of the subclass Octocorallia. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on 13 mitochondrial protein encoding genes revealed a polyphyletic relationship among octocorallians representing two orders (Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea) and four families (Alcyoniidae, Nephtheidae, Briareidae, and Gorgoniidae). Estimates of divergence times among octocorallians indicate that the first splitting might occur around end of or after Cretaceous period (50-79 million years ago (Ma)). The age is relatively young compared to the long history of stony sea corals (>240 Ma). Taken together our result suggests a possible relatively recent radiating evolution at least in the order Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea. Molecular dating and phylogenetic analysis based on much broader taxon sampling and many genes might give an insight into this interesting hypothesis.

Reproductive biology and larval development of the temperate soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (Alcyonacea: Nephtheidae)

Dendronephthya gigantea (Verrill, 1864), the dominant species in the waters surrounding Jeju Island, Korea, is a gonochoric internal brooder that releases its planulae from July to September. The ratio of females to males in this azooxanthellate soft coral is 2:1. Oogenesis takes place for 12 months and spermatogenesis for 3–5 months. Gametes mature as seawater temperatures increase, suggesting a seasonal factor in the reproductive cycle. Planulae brooded in the gastrodermal canal were expelled around the times of the full moon and the new moon; a significant difference in numbers expelled was not found between day and night. Ciliated planulae had negative buoyancy after planulation, and showed rapid metamorphosis into a primary polyp stage within 2 days.

Comparison of kinetic constants of creatine kinase isoforms

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the functional differences between the CK isoforms by cloning the cDNAs of 12 CK isoforms: the M and B cytoplasmic forms and uMiCK from mouse, the M1, M2 and B cytoplasmic forms from Danio rerio, M1 and M2 cytoplasmic forms from the lower vertebrate Lampetra japonica, a cytoplasmic CK and a MiCK from the marine worm Neanthes diversicolor, and a cytoplasmic CK and a MiCK from the soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea. These were expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with maltose-binding protein, and kinetic constants ( K m, K d and k cat) of all the recombinant enzymes, except for the unstable Dendronephthya cytoplasmic CK, were determined for the forward reaction. The kinetic constants of the M- and B-forms of the mouse and Danio cytoplasmic CKs differed significantly, with the K m for creatine ( K m Cr ) of M-CK being three- to nine-fold higher than that of B-CK, possibly reflecting differences in the concentration of creatine in muscle and brain cells. The mouse uMiCK had the lowest K m Cr value among the CK isoforms. In addition, it also exhibited a strong synergism for substrate binding ( K d/ K m = 11.8). These results indicate that uMiCK has unique characteristics compared with other CK isoforms. Two subisoforms of M-CK were found in the lower vertebrate L. japonica, and the kinetic constants of recombinant M1- and M2-CKs differed significantly. The M1- and M2-CKs were expressed in skeletal muscle with a ratio of 7:3, while M1-CK was the predominant subisoform in the testis. The kinetic constants of cytoplasmic CK from the marine worm Neanthes were significantly different from those of Neanthes MiCK, possibly indicating that functional differences among CK isoforms occurred at least before the divergence of annelids from other protostome invertebrates.

제주도 문섬 조하대에 서식하는 연산호군락의 태풍에 의한 영향 분석

Impacts of Typhoon Maemi on a soft-coral community located on subtidal cliff at Munseom, Jeju were investigated in this study using underwater photography. Typhoon Maemi hit Jeju Island in late September 2003 and its impact was strong enough to destruct most shallow water sessile benthos including soft corals. To estimate numbers and size of soft-coral colonies, a line transect was installed on the cliff at depth from 3 to 9 m and photographs were taken serially by every 1m. From each underwater photograph, species and size of soft-coral colony was determined. Number of soft-coral colony and its Percent coverage (PC) in each quadrat was calculated. Soft corals Scleronephthya gracillium, Dendronephthya gigantea, D. spinulosa and D. castanea were identified from the photographs. Dendronephthya sp. was mainly distributed at 3-6m while S. gracillimum was mostly occurred at . A survey conducted before the typhoon showed that number of the soft-coral colonies at was 17, 24, 20, 23, 18 and 30 or 21, 48, 36, 28, 24 and 43%, respectively. After the typhoon, number of soft-coral colonies in the transect increased, 31, 35, 21, 10, 21 and 50 while PC was remarkably decreased as 21, 23, 21, 5, 9 and 13%, respectively. Our data suggested that the impact was limited in larger colonies; larger soft coral colonies were selectively destroyed and removed while the small colonies underneath the larger colonies remained undestroyed

Cytotoxic constituents of the octocoralDendronephthya gigantea

A known monoalkyl glycerol ether, (+/-)-1-nonadecyloxy-2,3-propanediol (1) was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of a soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea as a weakly cytotoxic constituent against four human cancer cell lines, A549, HT-29, HT-1080, and SNU-638. In addition, a known ceramide, (2S,3R,4E,8E)-N-hexadecanoyl-2-amino-4,8-octadecadiene-1,3-diol (2), was also isolated as an inactive constituent. This is the first report on the isolation of the compounds 1 and 2 from the octocoral, Dendronephthya species.

Steroids and Sesquiterpenoids from the Soft Corals Dendronephthya gigantea and Lemnalia cervicorni

One new cytotoxic steroid, dendronesterone A (1), two new steroids, dendronesterones B and C (2 and 3), and a known steroid (4) were isolated from the methylene chloride solubles of the Formosan soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea. Two cytotoxic ylangene-type sesquiterpenoids, lemnalol (5) and the new compound cervicol (6), as well as two ylangene-type sesquiterpenoids, isolemnalol (7) (a new compound) and 4-oxo-alpha-ylangene (8), were isolated from the methylene chloride solubles of the Formosan soft coral Lemnalia cervicorni. Their structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis, and their cytotoxicity against selected cancer cells was measured in vitro.

Polyhydroxylated sterols from the octocoral Dendronephthya gigantea.

Two new polyhydroxylated sterols, dendronesterols A (1) and B (2), have been isolated from the octocoral Dendronephthya gigantea. The structures of 1 and 2 were proposed on the basis of extensive NMR experiments. Compound 2 was found to be weakly cytotoxic toward L1210 cells.