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Why a landmark treaty to stop ocean biopiracy could stymie research

Several cancer and HIV drugs have come from marine organisms, but scientists worry that a new agreement to save species could hinder some research.
  1. Olive Heffernan

    1. Olive Heffernan is a science journalist in Dublin.

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A red Hydrozoa showing tentacles on a black background

A new treaty will govern uses of organisms from the open ocean, such as this hydromedusa brought up from a depth of about 2,700 metres in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: David Shale/NPL

In 1945, a young chemist called Werner Bergmann was diving off the Florida coast, scouring its waters for undiscovered marine life. One of the species he came across was a rather plain brown sponge. A colleague named the new-found creature Cryptotethia crypta, and Bergmann isolated from it two unknown compounds — spongothymidine and spongouridine.

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Nature 580, 20-22 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00912-w

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