• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.247-250
• /
• 2004

A taxonomic study on marine sponges was conducted by SCUBA diving at Gageodo Island, Korea from August 1999 to July 2001. Among them, Haliclona (Gellius) coreana n. sp. turned out to be new to science. This new species seems to be close to H. (G.) arcoferus Vosmaer, 1885, based on the type of spicules. However, it is different in size of toxa and growth form. Toxa of the new species is half in length compared to H. (G.) arcoferus. The growth form is jar shaped in this new species, but flat in H. (G.) arcoferus.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.298-302
• /
• 2013

In this study, the effect of sericin on synthesis of the silica was investigated. Using the mixture of sericin solution and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), it was confirmed that silica could be synthesized in the presence of sericin, which was verified by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR) analysis. The TGA and FT-IR data revealed that silica-sericin complex was formed as a final product. Based on the TGA result, the content of silica and sericin in the complex would be 87 and 13%, respectively. The degree of silica condensation was higher than the natural biosilica. It could be concluded that sericin can induce the synthesis of silica directly from TEOS, which is similar to silicatein from marine sponges.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.319-329
• /
• 2020

The sponge-dwelling shrimp, Anchistioides compressus Paulson, 1875, is recorded from Munseom Islet, Jejudo Island, Korea for the first time. All specimens were collected inside the orange coloured sponges by trimix diving at depth from 36-45 m on the rocky reef slope. Anchistioides compressus is characterized by the shape of the rostrum, the posterolateral teeth of the sixth somite, stylocerite being well developed, the anterior margin of the scaphocerite sharply produced, and the biunguiculate dactyli of the ambulatory pereiopods, as well as the proportions of the fingers of the second pereiopods. An illustrated description of the specimens and colour photo are provided to aid future recognition.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.233-241
• /
• 2005

Two new marine sponges of family Tedaniidae, Tedania (Tedon iu) songakensis n. sp. and Tedania (Tedonia) sasuensis n. sp. were collected from Jeju Island and Chuja Island, Korea between 2004 and 2005. T. (T.) songakensis n. sp. is similar to T (T.) purpurescen Bergquist and Fromont, 1988 based on its type of spicules, but is distinguished from growth form and size of small onychaetes. The growth form of this species is massive, and is compared with thin encrusting of Tedania (T.) purpurescen. The onychaetes of the new species is twice as long as that of T. (T.) purpurescen. T. (T.) sasuensis n. sp. is closely related to T. (T.) connectens (Bronsted, 1924) in type of spicules. However, it is different in size of onychaetes and growth form. The large onychaetes of new species is larger than that of T (T.) connectens. The small onychaetes of new species is smaller than that of T. (T.) connectens. The growth form is massive in new species, but thick encrustins in T.(T.) connectens. And T. (T.) songakensis n. sp. is similar to T. (T.) sasuensis n. sp. in growth form. However, the former is widely different from the latter in shape, color and size of all spicules.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.70-74
• /
• 2017

Recently, the area of marine resources has become concerned with sources for the next generation of the bio-industry. Until present, development of the marine resources has remained limited, although a large number of these resources are considered to have potential for various significant biological activities. Most marine sponges, marine algae and coral could be used to create specific compounds for survival against a harsh environment. Therefore, it was necessary that these materials needed to be elucidated with biological activities, such as like anti-inflammatory, anti-viral or anti-cancer effects for their utilization in the bio-industry. In this study, we screened extracts of marine resources for their anti-cancer effect on human colorectal cancer cells. These resources were collected at Kosrae of Micronesia on April, 2013 and extracted with methanol. Cytotoxicity of marine resources was observed. Of a total of 20 specimens, three specimens dose-dependently demonstration inhibition of cell viability. Furthermore, cells treated with these specimens for 48h were induced p53, p21, Bax and caspase-3. The results suggest that they involved p53-mediated apoptosis. Two positive specimens (1304KO-327 and 1304KO-329) were verified as the identical materials, which are Hyrtios sp. Unfortunately 1304KO-207 was not yet classified and needed to identify in the further study. There results suggested that marine resources with positive potential in anticancer effect would be good candidates as useful bio-resources.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.294-298
• /
• 2016

Natural products are attractive as the source of new drug development. Especially, numerous unknown marine bioresources are an object of attention because the ocean occupies three fourth of the earth. Survival of marine bioresources in extreme environment may induce the production of biological active compounds. As previous study, we examined over 40 specimens of marine sponges collected from Micronesia and screened their anti-proliferative activities in various cancer cell lines. Among them, we investigated Coscinoderma sp.'s activity and mechanism in human colon carcinoma HCT116 and RKO cells. Furthermore, we also used the p53-knockout of HCT116 cells and the p53 loss of RKO cells for elucidating the role of p53. Coscinoderma sp. inhibited cellular viability independently of the p53 status. Therefore, we compared the expression level of cell death-related proteins by Coscinoderma sp. in HCT16 and in HCT116 p53KO cells. Coscinoderma sp. increased p53 level and NOXA levels and induced apoptosis under the condition of p53 existence. On the other hand, Coscinoderma sp. increased p21 and mTOR levels in HCT116 p53KO cells. These results suggest that Coscinoderma sp. induced anti-proliferation effect through different pathway depending on p53 status.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.377-382
• /
• 2013

The bacterial community structures of the marine sponge, Dactylospongia metachromia, collected from Chuuk of Micronesia on February 2012, were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The DGGE fingerprints of two individuals of D. metachromia, CH607 and CH840 showed the same band patterns. The sequences derived from DGGE bands revealed 93~100% similarities with known bacterial species in the public database and high similarity with uncultured bacterial clones. The bacterial community structures of both D. metachromia sponges (CH607, CH840) were composed of 6 phyla, 8 classes: Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Spirochaetes. DGGE fingerprint - based phylogenetic analysis revealed that the bacterial community profiles were identical in two individuals of the same sponge species collected from the same geographical location.

• Journal of Aquaculture
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.401-419
• /
• 1998

The structure of benthic algal flora and feeding behavior of sea urchins (Anthocidaris crassispina and Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus), were investigated from the eight different locations along the coast of Cheju Island, Korea. Biomass distribution and dominance of the algal communities were studied in relation to the gut contents and population parameters of the sea urchins. As a result, although the largest algal biomass and biological characteristics of sea urchins, such as test diameter, test hight, body weight, gonad weight, etc. This inhdicated that sea urchins would not be dependednt sorely on the abundance of algal foods, and they might feed on other food items. In order to know such a trend with regard to food selectivity, the diets consumed by sea urchins were analyzed, and it was found that they were composed of benthic and drifted algae, various animal components (sponges, bryozoans, crustaceans, and various unidentified capsulated eggs, etc.) and biets turned out to be smaller than might be expected, and it is postulated that sea urchins were not likely to be the major grazing animals for the formation of algal bed and also canopy deterioration, so-called "white incrustation."

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.1447-1451
• /
• 2007

Through the screening of marine natural compounds that inhibit cancer cell proliferation, we previously reported that pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2) isolated from marine sponges exhibits selective cytotoxicity against several cell lines in p53-deficient tumor cells compared to those with functional p53. However, the molecular mechanisms of its anti-proliferative action on malignant cell growth are not completely known. To further explore the mechanisms of its anti-cancer activity and to test whether the status of p53 in liver cancer cells correlates with their chemo-sensitivities to PTX-2, we used two well-known hepatocarcinoma cell lines, p53-deficient Hep3B and p53-wild type HepG2. We have demonstrated that PTX-2 markedly inhibits Hep3B cell growth and induces apoptosis whereas HepG2 cells are much more resistant to PTX-2 suggesting that PTX-2 seems to act by p53-independent cytotoxic mechanism. The apoptosis induced by PTX-2 in Hep3B cells was associated with the modulation of DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) family proteins, up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members such as Bax and Bcl-xS and activation of caspases (caspase-3, -8 and -9). Blockade of the caspase-3 activity by caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, prevented the PTX-2-induced growth inhibition in Hep3B cells. Moreover, treatment with PTX-2 also induced phosphorylation of AKT and extracellular-signal regulating kinase (ERK), but not c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MARK). Specific inhibitors of PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) and ERK1/2 inhibitor (PD98059) significantly blocks PTX-2-induced-anti-proliferative effects, whereas a JNK inhibitor (SP600125) and a p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB203580) have no significant effects demonstrating that the pro-apoptotic effect of PTX-2 mediated through activation of AKT and ERK signal pathway in Hep3B cells.