Chemistry and bioactivity of Antarctic marine organisms

• Main Author: Baker, Bill
• Format: Moving Image (Video)
• Language: English
• Published: Groupe de recherche BIOSPHERES : BIOlogie, Sciences Physiques & Humaines pour les énergies Renouvelables, l 2019
• Subjects: Biodécouverte; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.manioc.org/fichiers/V19067

Antarctica is a continent of enigmas. Stunning geographic beauty belies its inhospitable climate. Covered a mile thick in ice, it is the world's largest desert. Fossil ferns found in its mountains speak of its prehistory as a tropical rainforest, but now is largely devoid of life. Its most famous inhabitant, the penguin, is thought of as a flightless bird, but soars underwater much as a falcon glides the sky. Perhaps one of the greatest enigmas is the contrast between the terrestrial and marine environments. On land, monochromatic snow and ice support little life, yet the sea teams with life, life that expresses itself with the full rainbow of colors. Color is but one manifestation of chemical ecology. The Antarctic benthos supports an extensive community of predators and prey, competitors and facilitators. A harsh geographic history has contributed to marine diversification and enhanced what we now recognize as a rich flora and fauna, commensurate in some instances with temperate kelp forests and even approaching the richness of tropical marine environments. Not surprisingly, Antarctic benthic ecology is highly dependent on chemical mediation of interspecific interactions, interweaving chemodiversity with biodiversity in a classical yin and yang feedback loop. The evolution of selective chemical defenses facilitates drug discovery research, producing suites of metabolites that inform structure-activity studies and add breadth to bioactivity profiles. This presentation will focus on recent and contextual research from our lab which has demonstrated the potential for new biomedical lead molecules and scaffolds from these difficult to access biological resources.