Journal
CHEMICO-BIOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS
Volume 243, Issue -, Pages 135-147Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2015.09.009
Keywords
Marine sessile organisms; Competition for space; Allelopathic interactions; Allelochemicals; Cytotoxic compounds
Funding
- CSIR, India
- CSIR [PSC0105]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Marine sessile organisms often inhabit rocky substrata, which are crowded by other sessile organisms. They acquire living space via growth interactions and/or by allelopathy. They are known to secrete toxic compounds having multiple roles. These compounds have been explored for their possible applications in cancer chemotherapy, because of their ability to kill rapidly dividing cells of competitor organisms. As compared to the therapeutic applications of these compounds, their possible ecological role in competition for space has received little attention. To select the potential candidate organisms for the isolation of lead cytotoxic molecules, it is important to understand their chemical ecology with special emphasis on their allelopathic interactions with their competitors. Knowledge of the ecological role of allelopathic compounds will contribute significantly to an understanding of their natural variability and help us to plan effective and sustainable wild harvests to obtain novel cytotoxic chemicals. This review highlights the significance of studying allelopathic interactions of marine invertebrates in the discovery of cytotoxic compounds, by selecting sponge as a model organism. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available