The lipidome of the red seaweed Gracilaria sp., cultivated on land-based integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) system, was assessed for the first time using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC–MS and MS/MS). One hundred and forty-seven molecular species were identified in the lipidome of the Gracilaria genus and distributed between the glycolipids classes monogalactosyl diacylglyceride (MGDG), digalactosyl diacylglyceride (DGDG), sulfoquinovosyl monoacylglyceride (SQMG), sulfoquinovosyl diacylglyceride (SQDG), the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC), lyso-PC, phosphatidylglycerol (PG), lyso-PG, phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatic acid (PA), inositolphosphoceramide (IPC), and betaine lipids monoacylglyceryl- and diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethyl homoserine (MGTS and DGTS). Antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects promoted by lipid extract of Gracilaria sp. were evaluated by monitoring cell viability in human cancer lines and by using murine macrophages, respectively. The lipid extract decreased cell viability of human T-47D breast cancer cells and of 5637 human bladder cancer cells (estimated half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 12.2 μg/mL and 12.9 μg/mL, respectively) and inhibited the production of nitric oxide (NO) evoked by the Toll-like receptor 4 agonist lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 (35% inhibition at a concentration of 100 μg/mL). These findings contribute to increase the ranking in the value-chain of Gracilaria sp. biomass cultivated under controlled conditions on IMTA systems. Full article

The marine environment supports a remarkable diversity of organisms which are a potential source of natural products with biological activities. These organisms include a wide variety of marine plants (from micro- to macrophytes), which have been used in the food and pharmaceutical industry. However, the biochemistry and biological activities of many of these macrophytes (namely macroalgae and halophytes, including seagrasses) are still far from being fully explored. Most popular bioactive components include polysaccharides, peptides, phenolics and fatty acids (FAs). Polar lipids (glycolipids, phospholipids and betaine lipids) are emerging as novel value-added bioactive phytochemicals, rich in n-3 FA, with high nutritional value and health beneficial effects for the prevention of chronic diseases. Polar lipids account various combinations of polar groups, fatty acyl chains and backbone structures. The polar lipidome of macrophytes is remarkably diverse, and its screening represents a significant analytical challenge. Modern research platforms, particularly mass spectrometry (MS)-based lipidomic approaches, have been recently used to address this challenge and are here reviewed. The application of lipidomics to address lipid composition of marine macrophytes will contribute to the stimulation of further research on this group and foster the exploration of novel applications. Full article

The chemical diversity associated with marine natural products (MNP) is unanimously acknowledged as the “blue gold” in the urgent quest for new drugs. Consequently, a significant increase in the discovery of MNP published in the literature has been observed in the past decades, particularly from marine invertebrates. However, it remains unclear whether target metabolites originate from the marine invertebrates themselves or from their microbial symbionts. This issue underlines critical challenges associated with the lack of biomass required to supply the early stages of the drug discovery pipeline. The present review discusses potential solutions for such challenges, with particular emphasis on innovative approaches to culture invertebrate holobionts (microorganism-invertebrate assemblages) through in toto aquaculture, together with methods for the discovery and initial production of bioactive compounds from these microbial symbionts. Full article

Marine invertebrates are rich sources of bioactive compounds and their biotechnological potential attracts scientific and economic interest worldwide. Although sponges are the foremost providers of marine bioactive compounds, cnidarians are also being studied with promising results. This diverse group of marine invertebrates includes over 11,000 species, 7500 of them belonging to the class Anthozoa. We present an overview of some of the most promising marine bioactive compounds from a therapeutic point of view isolated from cnidarians in the first decade of the 21st century. Anthozoan orders Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea exhibit by far 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, sesquiterpenoids). We also discuss the future of bioprospecting for new marine bioactive compounds produced by cnidarians. Full article