Using chemical language to shape future marine health

Abstract

“Infochemicals” (information‐conveying chemicals) dominate much of the underwater communication in biological systems. They influence the movement and behavior of organisms, the ecological interactions between and across populations, and the trophic structure of marine food webs. However, relative to their terrestrial equivalents, the wider ecological and economic importance of marine infochemicals remains understudied and a concerted, cross‐disciplinary effort is needed to reveal the full potential of marine chemical ecology. We highlight current challenges with specific examples and suggest how research on the chemical ecology of marine organisms could provide opportunities for implementing new management solutions for future “blue growth” (the sustainable use of ocean resources) and maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.

Metabolic Insights Into Infochemicals Induced Colony Formation and Flocculation in Scenedesmus subspicatus Unraveled by Quantitative Proteomics

“…Second, the lack of bioassays that are robust and resistant to confounding effects makes the characterization of infochemicals tedious and can result in false positive identifications. Finally, bioassay-guided identification is highly time consuming (Pohnert et al, 2007;Saha et al, 2019). In addition to experiments measuring dosedependent production of colonies and aggregates, 'omics-based approaches ' (i.e., genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) have the potential to reveal how these processes are triggered and regulated intracellularly, providing insight from an ecological, evolutionary and biotechnology perspective.…”

A community perspective on the concept of marine holobionts: current status, challenges, and future directions

“…Holobionts occur in terrestrial and aquatic habitats alike, and several analogies between these ecosystems can be made. For example, in all of these habitats, interactions within and across holobionts such as induction of chemical defenses, nutrient acquisition, or biofilm formation are mediated by chemical cues and signals in the environment, dubbed infochemicals ( Loh et al., 2002 ; Harder et al., 2012 ; Rolland et al., 2016 ; Saha et al., 2019 ). Nevertheless, we can identify two major differences between terrestrial and aquatic systems.…”

Marine Animal-Derived Compounds and Autophagy Modulation in Breast Cancer Cells

“…Within this context, for example, biotic factors such as the need for interindividual signalization and defense against predators, infective agents, and UV radiations prompted sessile species to develop complex strategies via chemical communication through very disparate metabolites, which is known to encompass different taxonomic lineages and even kingdoms. The study of these unique marine species-derived metabolites, whose peculiar chemical scaffolds can also be utilized for the design of analogs with increased bioavailability and efficacy and less toxicity, offering great potential for the development of new classes of molecules aimed at various applications, encompassing health management, biomaterial engineering, and environmental remediation [18,19].…”