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Chemistry and bioactivity of secondary metabolites from South China Sea marine fauna and flora: recent research advances and perspective

Acta Pharmacologica Sinica volume 43, pages 3062–3079 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Marine organisms often produce a variety of metabolites with unique structures and diverse biological activities that enable them to survive and struggle in the extremely challenging environment. During the last two decades, our group devoted great effort to the discovery of pharmaceutically interesting lead compounds from South China Sea marine plants and invertebrates. We discovered numerous marine secondary metabolites spanning a wide range of structural classes, various biosynthetic origins and various aspects of biological activities. In a series of reviews, we have summarized the bioactive natural products isolated from Chinese marine flora and fauna found during 2000–2012. The present review provides an updated summary covering our latest research progress and development in the last decade (2012–2022) highlighting the discovery of over 400 novel marine secondary metabolites with promising bioactivities from South China Sea marine organisms.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge all of their colleagues who have contributed to the studies presented herein. The reported researches were financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 81991521), the SKLDR/SIMM Project (No. SIMM2103ZZ‐06), and Syngenta-SIMM-PhD Studentship Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201203, China

    Jiao Liu & Yue-wei Guo

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jiao Liu & Yue-wei Guo

  3. Syngenta, Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG42 6EY, UK

    Yu-cheng Gu

  4. Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery, Bohai Rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery, Yantai, 264117, China

    Ming-zhi Su & Yue-wei Guo

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  1. Jiao Liu
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  2. Yu-cheng Gu
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Liu, J., Gu, Yc., Su, Mz. et al. Chemistry and bioactivity of secondary metabolites from South China Sea marine fauna and flora: recent research advances and perspective. Acta Pharmacol Sin 43, 3062–3079 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-022-00980-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-022-00980-w

Keywords

  • marine natural products
  • biological activity
  • marine flora
  • sponges
  • soft corals
  • mollusks

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