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. 2011 Dec;9(12):2499-2513.
doi: 10.3390/md9122499. Epub 2011 Nov 28.

Relevant spatial scales of chemical variation in Aplysina aerophoba

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Relevant spatial scales of chemical variation in Aplysina aerophoba

Oriol Sacristan-Soriano et al. Mar Drugs. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

Understanding the scale at which natural products vary the most is critical because it sheds light on the type of factors that regulate their production. The sponge Aplysina aerophoba is a common Mediterranean sponge inhabiting shallow waters in the Mediterranean and its area of influence in Atlantic Ocean. This species contains large concentrations of brominated alkaloids (BAs) that play a number of ecological roles in nature. Our research investigates the ecological variation in BAs of A. aerophoba from a scale of hundred of meters to thousand kilometers. We used a nested design to sample sponges from two geographically distinct regions (Canary Islands and Mediterranean, over 2500 km), with two zones within each region (less than 50 km), two locations within each zone (less than 5 km), and two sites within each location (less than 500 m). We used high-performance liquid chromatography to quantify multiple BAs and a spectrophotometer to quantify chlorophyll a (Chl a). Our results show a striking degree of variation in both natural products and Chl a content. Significant variation in Chl a content occurred at the largest and smallest geographic scales. The variation patterns of BAs also occurred at the largest and smallest scales, but varied depending on which BA was analyzed. Concentrations of Chl a and isofistularin-3 were negatively correlated, suggesting that symbionts may impact the concentration of some of these compounds. Our results underline the complex control of the production of secondary metabolites, with factors acting at both small and large geographic scales affecting the production of multiple secondary metabolites.

Keywords: Porifera; brominated alkaloids; geographic variation; natural products; secondary metabolites; sponges.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study area that comprises two biogeographic regions; Tenerife (A; Canary Islands) and Cap de Creus (B; Northwestern Mediterranean). (A) Sampling sites of Tenerife. Punta Tixera (Ti), San Juan (SJ), Alcalá 1 (A1), Alcalá 2 (A2), Atlántida Coast (AC), Atlántida (At), Barranco del Eco (BE), Barranco Seco (BS); (B) Sampling sites of Cap de Creus. Gat 1 (G1), Gat 2 (G2), Caials (Ca), Portlligat (Po), Club Med 1 (C1), Club Med 2 (C2), Port de la Selva 1 (P1), Port de la Selva 2 (P2).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Significant differences in Aerophobin-1, Aerophobin-2 (mg·g−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE), and Chlorophyll a concentrations (ng·mg−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE) of Aplysina aerophoba between sampling sites. A1 = Alcalá 1 (N = 6); A2 = Alcalá 2 (N = 7); Ti = Punta Tixera (N = 7); SJ = San Juan (N = 9); BE = Barranco del Eco (N = 8); BS = Barranco Seco (N = 7); At = Atlántida (N = 6); AC = Atlántida Coast (N = 7); C1 = Club Med 1 (N = 10); C2 = Club Med 2 (N = 10); P1 = Port de la Selva 1 (N = 10); P2 = Port de la Selva 2 (N = 10); G1 = Gat 1 (N = 6); G2 = Gat 2 (N = 8); Ca = Caials (N = 7);Po = Portlligat (N = 8). Aero1 = aerophobin-1; Aero2 = aerophobin-2; Chl a = chlorophyll a. Letters indicate significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) of pairwise comparisons between sampling sites of the same location (showed as the same pattern design).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Significant differences in Aplysinamisin-1, Isofistularin-3 (mg·g−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE), and Chlorophyll a concentrations (ng·mg−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE) of Aplysina aerophoba between Tenerife (Te, N = 57) and Cap de Creus (CC, N = 69). Aply1 = aplysinamisin-1; Iso3 = isofistularin-3; Chl a = chlorophyll a.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relationship between the abundance of isofistularin-3 (Iso3; mg·g−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE) and the concentration of chlorophyll a (Chl a; ng·mg−1 dry mass sponge tissue ± 1 SE). * Significant P-value after Bonferroni correction.

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