The significance of the work lies partly in what it did not do. Most previous investigations of bioactive compounds from P. martensii, a commercially vital aquaculture species farmed along the coasts of southern China and southwestern Japan, have relied on enzymatic hydrolysis, in which trypsin, alcalase, or flavourzyme chop discarded oyster flesh into short peptides with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory activity. Enzymatic digestion substantially reshapes the native molecular profile and risks destroying sensitive bioactive sequences. The new study instead collected roughly one liter of fresh mucus from 100 oysters during routine shucking, diluted it with ultrapure water, homogenized it at 4 degrees Celsius, centrifuged the mixture, filtered it through 0.45 and 0.22 micrometer membranes, and passed the filtrate through a 3 kilodalton molecular-weight-cutoff membrane. The low-molecular-weight permeate was then freeze-dried. This hydrolysis-free workflow preserves the mucus’s native cocktail of free amino acids, small peptides, nucleosides, and polar metabolites exactly as the oyster secretes them.

Chemical profiling revealed a composition dominated by small, water-soluble osmolytes. Targeted quantification showed that taurine accounted for 8.0 percent of the dry weight and betaine for 4.1 percent, while total amino acids measured after acid hydrolysis reached 6.0 percent. Inorganic components, chiefly chloride and sodium followed by sulfate, bicarbonate, potassium, and magnesium, made up 72.0 percent of the dry mass, and total sugars were minimal at 0.15 percent. Glycine was the predominant amino acid, followed by glutamic acid, proline, alanine, and valine. Untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, performed under two orthogonal separation modes, reversed-phase C18 and hydrophilic interaction chromatography, generated distinct chemical fingerprints in which taurine and betaine appeared prominently under both conditions, and a feature putatively assigned to hypoxanthine emerged only under the HILIC mode. Because authentic standards were not run under identical chromatographic conditions, the authors treated these annotations as putative, a methodological caution that underscores how much of the extract’s chemistry remains uncharacterized.

With the extract characterized, the team turned to cellular models. In L929 murine fibroblasts, the workhorse cell type of connective tissue research, a single UVA dose of 10 joules per square centimeter, delivered at a peak wavelength of 365 nanometers, drove the cells into a senescent state. Prior toxicity testing across concentrations from 7.81 to 1,000 micrograms per milliliter had confirmed that AKN alone was non-cytotoxic, maintaining viability above 95 percent. When AKN was administered 12 hours before irradiation at 400 micrograms per milliliter, it significantly suppressed the mRNA levels of p16, p21, and p53, the canonical cell-cycle arrest genes whose upregulation marks premature cellular senescence. Senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining, the gold-standard histochemical marker of the senescent phenotype, corroborated the molecular data: UVA-irradiated fibroblasts displayed the characteristic enlarged, flattened morphology and a pronounced increase in blue-stained cells, while AKN treatment markedly reduced the proportion of senescence-positive cells and largely restored normal morphology.

The extract also showed anti-inflammatory capacity in a second cellular model. BV2 murine microglial cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, a bacterial endotoxin that activates toll-like receptor 4-dependent inflammatory signaling, responded to AKN co-treatment with significantly reduced mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta. AKN simultaneously lowered intracellular reactive oxygen species, measured by DCFH-DA fluorescence. This dual action on oxidative and inflammatory axes is mechanistically coherent with current models of photoaging, in which UVA-generated reactive oxygen species overwhelm endogenous antioxidant defenses, activate the nuclear factor-kappaB axis, and trigger a self-reinforcing feed-forward cascade linking oxidative stress, inflammatory signaling, the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and irreversible cell-cycle arrest.

The decisive test came in living animals. Six- to seven-week-old male BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to five groups of six animals each: an untreated control, a UVA model group, and three treatment groups receiving topical applications of 1 milligram per milliliter AKN, 4 milligrams per milliliter AKN, or 4 milligrams per milliliter ergothioneine. Thirty minutes before each irradiation session, 200 microliters of the corresponding solution were applied to shaved dorsal skin, and the mice were exposed to UVA at 400 millijoules per square centimeter per session for 16 days, with investigators blinded to treatment allocation. By the end of the experiment, the UVA model group had developed the classic macroscopic photoaging phenotype: pronounced wrinkles, rough and dull skin texture, and loss of elasticity. Topical AKN visibly improved skin appearance in a dose-dependent manner, and at 4 milligrams per milliliter the dorsal skin closely resembled that of the non-irradiated control, performing alongside the ergothioneine reference.

Gene expression analysis of mouse dorsal skin reproduced the transcriptional signature of photoaged tissue. UVA irradiation upregulated p16, p21, p53, the matrix metalloproteinase gene Mmp9, and the inflammatory gene iNOS, while downregulating Col1a1, the gene encoding the alpha 1 chain of type I collagen, the principal structural protein of the dermal extracellular matrix. Treatment with 1 milligram per milliliter AKN significantly decreased p16, p21, p53, and iNOS mRNA levels, while 4 milligrams per millilliter AKN further suppressed Mmp9 and restored Col1a1 transcription. Western blot analysis confirmed that these changes translated to the protein level: the UVA model group showed elevated iNOS, phosphorylated p65, the activated subunit of the NF-kappaB inflammatory axis, and p16, and 4 milligrams per milliliter AKN significantly reduced all three markers.

Histological examination completed the picture. Hematoxylin-eosin staining revealed that chronic UVA exposure thickened the epidermis and disorganized the dermal architecture, while Masson’s trichrome staining showed a striking depletion of collagen fibers, visualized as reduced blue-stained density. These alterations recapitulate the well-documented histopathology of UVA-induced photoaging, in which chronic exposure drives epidermal hyperproliferation and dermal extracellular matrix degradation. AKN treatment mitigated the damage dose-dependently: 1 milligram per milliliter produced partial reductions in epidermal thickness and modest collagen recovery, while 4 milligrams per milliliter yielded a more pronounced epidermal thinning, a more organized dermis, and a substantial restoration of collagen deposition, confirmed by quantitative image analysis of epidermal thickness and collagen fiber density.

One of the study’s most intriguing findings concerns the comparison with the positive control. While ergothioneine significantly attenuated senescence and inflammatory markers, its regulation of Mmp9 and Col1a1 did not reach statistical significance, whereas 4 milligrams per milliliter AKN suppressed Mmp9 and increased Col1a1. The authors argue that AKN’s potency should not be read as a simple additive effect of its identified constituents. Rather, the unhydrolyzed extract functions as an integrated multi-component cluster in which taurine, betaine, free amino acids, native oligopeptide sequences, and a diverse pool of uncharacterized low-molecular-weight trace constituents act in concert, an entourage or synergistic matrix effect that simultaneously engages complementary defense pathways and reinforces extracellular matrix integrity. Preserving this native network, they contend, avoids the disruption of delicate bioactive synergies that frequently occurs during harsh fractionation, conferring protection that transcends the capabilities of isolated single compounds.

The findings arrive against a backdrop of substantial industrial by-product generation. Annual marine pearl harvests in East Asia reach tens of metric tons, and the industry concurrently produces thousands of metric tons of oyster soft-tissue biomass and mucosal secretions each year, most of which are discarded. Valorizing mucus as a source of photoprotective agents would convert a waste stream into a raw material for functional cosmetics, using a green processing workflow that avoids proteolytic enzymes, organic solvents, and laborious multi-step purification. The high abundance of low-molecular-weight, water-soluble constituents offers distinct formulation advantages for topical dermatological preparations. The authors acknowledge, however, that significant questions remain before translation: the precise active constituents and their synergistic interactions have not been resolved, cellular uptake and intracellular disposition of AKN components were not tracked, evaluations under chronic low-dose or combined UVA/UVB challenge are needed, and rigorous safety testing, including sensitization, repeated-dose toxicity, formulation stability, and human clinical trials, will be required before any cosmeceutical application. For now, the study establishes a scientific foundation for a hydrolysis-free, marine-derived approach to combating sun-induced skin aging, and sets the stage for bioassay-guided fractionation to pinpoint the oyster’s active principles.

Subject of Research: Pearl oyster mucus extract protects against UVA-induced skin photoaging in cells and mice

Article Title: Protective effects of an aqueous extract from Pinctada fucata martensii mucus on ultraviolet A-induced skin photoaging: in vitro and in vivo evidence

Article References: Cao, A., Wang, X., Quan, S., Qin, Y., Cai, W., & Quan, J. (2026). Protective effects of an aqueous extract from Pinctada fucata martensii mucus on ultraviolet A-induced skin photoaging: in vitro and in vivo evidence. Frontiers in Natural Products, 5, Article 1961314. https://doi.org/10.3389/fntpr.2026.1961314

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fntpr.2026.1961314

Keywords: pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata martensii, UVA, photoaging, skin aging, marine natural products, taurine, betaine, collagen, ergothioneine, senescence, NF-kappaB

The compound, named MHO7, is the molecule 6-epi-ophiobolin G, a sesterterpenoid originally isolated from the secondary metabolites of the mangrove-derived fungus Aspergillus ustus 094,102. Sesterterpenoids are a structurally unusual class of fungal natural products built from five isoprene units, and ophiobolins in particular have attracted attention for potent and multi-pathway anticancer activity. The Wuhan group, led by Haiyan Wen, Feifei Zeng, Yu Lan and senior authors Juanjuan Li, Siqi Zhou and Kui Hong, had previously shown that MHO7 acts as an estrogen receptor alpha degrader in hormone-positive breast cancer and halts triple-negative tumor growth by inducing immunogenic cell death through the ER stress-CHOP pathway. What remained unknown was whether the compound could also stop cancer cells from physically spreading, the process that drives most breast cancer deaths.

To answer that question, the researchers used MDA-MB-231, a highly invasive, mesenchymal-like triple-negative breast cancer cell line, as their in vitro model, and a subcutaneous xenograft model in immunodeficient BALB/c nude mice for in vivo testing. In the laboratory assays, MHO7 treatment significantly reduced wound closure in scratch tests and sharply cut the number of cells that migrated or invaded through Transwell membranes, including through Matrigel-coated inserts that mimic the extracellular matrix barrier. The compound also reduced the ability of cells to attach to fibronectin-coated surfaces, a direct readout of how strongly tumor cells grip the matrix that anchors them before they crawl away.

Perhaps the most striking cellular effect involved the junctions that hold epithelial cells together. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that MHO7 increased the accumulation of beta-catenin at E-cadherin-positive cell-cell junctions, meaning the two proteins colocalized more strongly, a sign of reinforced adherens junctions. At the same time, quantitative PCR revealed that the gene encoding E-cadherin, CDH1, was significantly upregulated, while the matrix-degrading enzymes MMP-2 and MMP-9 were downregulated. In plain terms, the compound appears to weld cancer cells more tightly to their neighbors while stripping them of the molecular scissors they use to cut through tissue, a double blow to the metastatic cascade.

To understand how MHO7 achieves this, the team re-analyzed transcriptome sequencing data from treated cells and identified 3,107 upregulated and 3,039 downregulated differentially expressed genes. When the downregulated genes were mapped onto biological pathways using KEGG and Gene Ontology enrichment analyses, the strongest signals pointed squarely at focal adhesion, regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, and adherens junctions. Network analysis of the affected genes placed PTK2, the gene encoding focal adhesion kinase, or FAK, and SRC at central nodes interconnected with upstream integrin signaling components. Western blotting confirmed the picture at the protein level: both total and phosphorylated FAK and Src dropped significantly after MHO7 treatment.

FAK is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that sits at the intersection of cell-matrix interactions and integrin signaling, governing survival, motility and invasion. Its activation begins with autophosphorylation at tyrosine 397, an indispensable event that recruits and activates Src family kinases, which then drive cytoskeletal remodeling and downstream survival cascades. FAK is frequently overexpressed and hyperactivated in aggressive malignancies, and in triple-negative breast cancer it orchestrates invasion, chemoresistance and angiogenesis, in part by upregulating the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor VEGFR2. MHO7 treatment suppressed exactly the initiating steps of this axis, reducing p-FAK at Y397 and p-Src at Y419 both in cultured cells and in tumor tissue from treated mice.

The cytoskeletal consequences were visible under the microscope. Control MDA-MB-231 cells displayed the classic invasive morphology, with well-organized, prominent F-actin stress fibers traversing the cytoplasm. After MHO7 exposure, that architecture collapsed into profound disorganization, and in tumor tissues the adhesion scaffold protein paxillin showed disrupted localization alongside severe F-actin disarray. Downstream, the PI3K/AKT cascade, a major effector of FAK, was also quieted, with reduced phosphorylation of both PI3K and AKT confirmed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. The compound also promoted tumor cell apoptosis, shown by increased cleaved caspase-3, and curtailed angiogenesis, shown by decreased CD31, in the xenograft tumors.

One of the study’s most intriguing findings concerns the crosstalk between FAK and the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, a bidirectional oncogenic partnership that coregulates cytoskeletal reorganization, cell motility and stemness. Transcriptomic profiling of tumor tissue from mice given 50 milligrams per kilogram of MHO7 identified 1,135 upregulated and 1,090 downregulated genes, with focal adhesion and Wnt signaling both significantly enriched among the downregulated pathways. Follow-up experiments showed a dose-dependent decrease in nuclear and cytoplasmic beta-catenin, consistent with enhanced proteasomal degradation of cytoplasmic beta-catenin and a blockade of its nuclear translocation, along with upregulated GSK-3beta and E-cadherin. By simultaneously dismantling the FAK axis and draining beta-catenin out of the nucleus, MHO7 appears to sever a dual oncogenic circuit rather than a single wire.

The in vivo results add weight to the translational promise. In the xenograft model, oral MHO7 at 50 and 100 milligrams per kilogram significantly suppressed tumor volume and growth rate, with final tumor weights significantly lower than in vehicle-treated mice and tumor growth inhibition comparable to doxorubicin at 3 milligrams per kilogram. But the safety contrast was stark: doxorubicin caused three treatment-related deaths, progressive body weight loss, myocardial deformation, hepatic congestion and nuclear changes in renal and splenic cells, plus altered serum markers of kidney and heart injury. MHO7-treated mice, by contrast, gained weight steadily, showed no pathological lesions in the heart, liver, kidney, spleen, stomach or intestines, and had normal serum levels of ALT, AST, creatinine, uric acid, creatine kinase, CK-MB and lactate dehydrogenase, indicating no hepatic, renal or cardiac toxicity.

The authors are careful about the limits of their work. The data do not yet establish FAK as a direct molecular target of MHO7; the pathway suppression could stem from an unidentified upstream regulator, and rescue experiments will be needed to prove strict causality. The in vitro findings rest on a single mesenchymal-like cell line, the bell-shaped in vivo dose response, with the intermediate 50 milligram per kilogram dose performing best numerically, may partly reflect experimental variability or pharmacokinetic constraints such as gastrointestinal absorption saturation at high oral doses, and all safety data remain preclinical. The team’s next phase will map the compound’s direct binding targets, profile its pharmacokinetics comprehensively, test it in patient-derived xenografts and optimize its structure. Still, the convergence of anti-migratory, pro-junctional, pro-apoptotic and anti-angiogenic effects, delivered through a dual FAK-Wnt mechanism with a clean toxicity profile, marks MHO7 as a rare kind of lead compound: one forged in the ocean’s fungal depths that may finally give clinicians a way to stop the deadliest part of triple-negative breast cancer, its spread.

Subject of Research: A marine-derived sesterterpenoid that inhibits triple-negative breast cancer cell migration and invasion via suppression of the FAK signaling pathway

Article Title: A marine-derived sesterterpenoid inhibits migration and invasion of triple-negative breast cancer cells by suppressing the FAK signaling pathway

Article References: Wen, H., Zeng, F., Lan, Y., Yin, Y., Huang, Y., Hu, Y., Yin, J., Li, J., Zhou, S., & Hong, K. (2026). A marine-derived sesterterpenoid inhibits migration and invasion of triple-negative breast cancer cells by suppressing the FAK signaling pathway. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 14, Article 1967923. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2026.1967923

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2026.1967923

Keywords: triple-negative breast cancer, MHO7, sesterterpenoid, ophiobolin, FAK signaling, cell migration, invasion, Wnt beta-catenin, marine natural products, metastasis, PI3K AKT pathway, xenograft model

The story begins on the Pamban Coast in December 2022, when the research team collected roughly three kilograms of fresh Gracilaria spinulosa, a red macroalga belonging to the order Gigartinales and the family Rhizophyllidaceae. This species thrives on reef rocks in high-current marine environments, an ecological niche that exposes it to constant physical stress and, perhaps, drives the production of the defensive molecules that make it chemically interesting. The specimens were taxonomically validated by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany at the University of Madras, then cleaned of epiphytes, rinsed thoroughly with distilled water, and stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius until analysis began. Only fresh, healthy specimens were chosen, and the dry weight of the biomass was determined at 28 percent of the fresh weight, a figure consistent with other red algal species such as Ceramium elongata and Laurencia mannarensis, which range between 22 and 38 percent.

Extracting the polysaccharide required a deliberate chemical strategy. The researchers first defatted and decolorized one hundred grams of pulverized algal biomass by stirring it in 85 percent ethanol for twelve hours at 37 degrees Celsius, removing proteins and pigments that could contaminate the final product. The dried residue was then subjected to acidic hot-water extraction, with the pH adjusted to 3.0 using concentrated hydrochloric acid and the mixture held at 85 degrees Celsius for two hours under continuous stirring. This procedure was repeated three times to maximize recovery. The combined supernatants were clarified by centrifugation, and the dissolved polysaccharides were precipitated with an equal volume of ice-cold acetone held overnight at 4 degrees Celsius. After further centrifugation, the crude polysaccharide pellet was dialyzed for twenty-four hours through tubing with a 14 kilodalton molecular weight cutoff, removing low-molecular-weight impurities, and finally freeze-dried. The yield was 7.2 percent of the dry seaweed, within the 2.0 to 7.7 percent range reported for other red seaweeds, though lower than the 22 to 56 percent yields achieved from species such as Gracilaria amansii, Gracilaria livida, Laurencia papillosa, Portieria hornemannii, and Acanthophora spicifera, reflecting how temperature, season, and species physiology shape extraction outcomes.

Chemical characterization revealed a composition dominated by carbohydrates. Total sugars accounted for 68.2 percent of the extract, sulfate esters contributed 20.6 percent, ash content was a modest 4.0 percent, and moisture measured 10 percent. Elemental analysis detected 28.57 percent carbon, 6.45 percent hydrogen, and 1.68 percent nitrogen, values closely mirroring earlier work on sulfated polysaccharides from Gracilaria debilis. When the researchers hydrolyzed the polysaccharide with trifluoroacetic acid to break it into its monosaccharide building blocks, galactose emerged as the overwhelming majority at 78.2 percent, followed by xylose at 10.6 percent, arabinose at 9.7 percent, and mannose at 2.3 percent. This profile confirms that the compound is a true sulfated galactan, with galactose forming the primary backbone of the polymer, and it aligns closely with the monosaccharide composition previously reported for the related red seaweed Acanthophora spicifera.

Structural confirmation came from two complementary imaging and spectroscopic techniques. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of the potassium bromide pellets produced a spectrum with prominent peaks at 1246 and 829 wavenumbers. The first corresponds to the sulfur-oxygen double bond stretching vibration characteristic of sulfate ester groups, while the second signals carbon-oxygen-sulfur bonds indicative of secondary axial sulfation, features that distinguish this galactan from related carrageenan families. Scanning electron microscopy, performed at an acceleration voltage of 8.0 kilovolts on platinum-coated samples, showed irregular particles with heterogeneous surfaces at lower magnification and well-defined rectangular microstructures with small dimensions at higher magnification. Together, these data establish both the chemical identity and the physical architecture of the extract, essential groundwork for any future attempt to link structure to function.

The antioxidant results were solid rather than spectacular, and the researchers report them with appropriate candor. In the DPPH radical scavenging assay, activity climbed in a concentration-dependent manner from 17.81 percent at 100 micrograms per milliliter to 76.90 percent at 1000 micrograms per milliliter, a maximum scavenging performance comparable to values of 55.55 percent and 73.96 percent reported for sulfated polysaccharides from Acanthophora spicifera and Sargassum horneri. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration, or IC50, for DPPH scavenging was 464.12 micrograms per milliliter, higher than the 271.56 micrograms per milliliter achieved by ascorbic acid, meaning the seaweed compound required roughly 1.7 times more material to neutralize the same fraction of free radicals. Prior research suggests that phenolic content strongly influences these numbers, and the new study did not measure phenolics directly, so the moderate potency likely reflects the polysaccharide’s structural properties rather than any impurity.

The superoxide radical scavenging assay told a similar story. Activity rose from 9.68 percent at 100 micrograms per milliliter to 57.12 percent at 1000 micrograms per milliliter, with an IC50 of 841.54 micrograms per milliliter against the 385.11 micrograms per milliliter benchmark set by ascorbic acid. These figures sit within the range reported for sulfated galactans from tropical seaweeds, which have shown superoxide scavenging values ranging from 23.3 to 64.5 percent across different concentrations. Notably, some related red algal polysaccharides, including those from Gracilaria caudata, Sargassum filipendula, and Sargassum schroederi, showed no detectable superoxide scavenging whatsoever, making the measurable activity here a genuine point of differentiation. The researchers note that superoxide scavenging tends to correlate positively with sulfate content, and the 20.6 percent sulfate measured in this extract is consistent with that relationship.

The cytotoxicity findings are where the study earns its headline. Using the MTT assay, which measures metabolic activity as a proxy for cell viability, the team tested concentrations of 10 to 100 micrograms per milliliter against both HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma cells and CCD-841 normal colon epithelial cells, with doxorubicin as the positive control. The polysaccharide killed HT-29 cells in a concentration-dependent fashion, achieving an IC50 of 64.22 plus or minus 0.67 micrograms per milliliter. That figure is higher than the 29.35 plus or minus 1.15 micrograms per milliliter of doxorubicin, the clinical gold standard, but doxorubicin is famously toxic to healthy tissue as well, so a natural product with any selectivity is noteworthy. In stark contrast, CCD-841 cells retained approximately 86.6 percent viability even at the highest concentration tested, comfortably above the 75 percent threshold that conventionally separates non-cytotoxic from cytotoxic outcomes.

How this selectivity works at the molecular level remains an open question, and the authors are appropriately cautious about their interpretation. Previous studies have linked the anticancer activity of sulfated polysaccharides to their degree of sulfation, molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, and glycosidic linkages, and a recent paper suggested that sulfated polysaccharides from Gracilaria corticata can trigger reactive-oxygen-species-mediated apoptosis in colon cancer cells. The current work did not include desulfation experiments or formal structure-activity analyses, so the plausible link between the extract’s 20.6 percent sulfate content and its cytotoxic effect is inferred from the broader literature rather than demonstrated directly. Still, the dose-response curve is clear, the contrast with normal cells is pronounced, and the extraction chemistry is well characterized, giving the field a solid foundation for the next round of investigation.

The road ahead is clearly mapped by the study’s own limitations. The authors call for testing against additional cancer and non-cancerous cell lines, detailed structural characterization, mechanistic and in vivo studies, and formal structure-activity relationship work to confirm whether sulfate groups drive the observed biological effects. If those steps succeed, Gracilaria spinulosa could join the ranks of marine organisms whose polysaccharides, from fucoidans to carrageenans, are being developed as antioxidant supplements, anti-inflammatory agents, and anticancer drug leads. For now, the message is simpler and no less exciting: a seaweed that clings to reefs in one of the world’s richest marine environments is producing a sugar-based molecule that distinguishes cancerous colon cells from healthy ones under laboratory conditions. In the ongoing search for gentler and more selective cancer therapies, that is a distinction worth chasing.

Subject of Research: Sulfated galactan polysaccharides from the red seaweed Gracilaria spinulosa and their antioxidant and selective cytotoxic effects against colon cancer cells in vitro.

Article Title: In vitro antioxidant activity and cytotoxic effects of sulfated galactan polysaccharides from Gracilaria spinulosa

Article References: Kannaiah, S., Sekar, N., Devi, W. S., Arunprakash, N., Raju, P., Mani, A., Selvarajan, R., & Abia, A. L. K. (2026). In vitro antioxidant activity and cytotoxic effects of sulfated galactan polysaccharides from Gracilaria spinulosa. Discover Chemistry, 3(1), Article 450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44371-026-00913-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44371-026-00913-0

Keywords: Gracilaria spinulosa, sulfated polysaccharides, red seaweed, antioxidant, colon cancer, HT-29, cytotoxicity, Gulf of Mannar, marine natural products, DPPH, galactose, vitro

What makes marine carbohydrates so chemically interesting is their structural diversity. Polysaccharides extracted from seaweeds, sponges, shellfish and marine bacteria can carry sulfate groups in patterns that differ from species to species, form glycosidic linkages that are uncommon in terrestrial plants, and adopt branched architectures that change how they interact with biological targets. Fucoidans from brown algae, carrageenans from red algae, chitin and chitosan derivatives from crustacean shells, and sulfated glycosaminoglycan-like molecules from marine animals all fall into this category. Because the precise arrangement of sulfate groups and sugar units determines how these molecules bind to proteins, enzymes and cell surfaces, even subtle structural differences can translate into dramatically different biological effects.

That sensitivity to structure is precisely why these molecules have attracted attention across so many therapeutic areas. The review documents reported antiviral, anticoagulant, immunomodulatory and antitumor activities for marine-derived carbohydrates and their derivatives, alongside material properties that make them useful in drug delivery systems, wound dressings and tissue engineering scaffolds. Sulfated polysaccharides, for example, can interfere with viral attachment and entry by mimicking the charged surfaces that viruses normally latch onto, while alginate-based materials have become mainstays in encapsulation and wound-care applications because of their gentle gelling behavior and biocompatibility.

The clinical story of marine-inspired drugs is older than many readers might expect. The review’s authors anchor their timeline to cytarabine, an antileukemia drug approved in the United States in 1969, which traces its chemical inspiration to nucleosides originally isolated from a Caribbean sponge. Although cytarabine is not itself a carbohydrate in the polysaccharide sense, it established a crucial precedent: molecules derived from marine organisms could survive the full gauntlet of preclinical testing, regulatory scrutiny and clinical use. Later products built on alginate, carrageenan and other marine raw materials followed, extending the family of carbohydrate-based medicines into areas such as wound management, drug formulation and symptomatic treatment.

Today, the pipeline is broader than ever. The review surveys clinical-stage candidates derived from marine carbohydrates currently being evaluated for viral infections, cancer, metabolic disorders, tissue repair, cystic fibrosis and neurological disease. This breadth reflects both the versatility of the molecules and the maturity of the field: what was once a collection of exploratory extracts has become a portfolio of defined candidates moving through controlled trials. Yet the authors are careful to note that the distance between a promising laboratory result and an approved product remains substantial, and that the obstacles are not primarily about discovering new activities.

The central challenge, according to the review, is reproducibility. The biological activity of a marine polysaccharide depends on its molecular weight, its sulfation pattern and its monosaccharide composition, but all three of these parameters can vary with the species from which the material is harvested, the season in which it is collected, and the extraction and processing methods used to isolate it. A batch of fucoidan gathered from one coastline in spring may differ measurably from a batch of the nominally same polymer collected elsewhere in autumn. For a regulatory agency, such variability is a serious problem, because a drug must deliver the same molecule, with the same quality attributes, every single time.

Solving that problem requires the kind of systematic thinking that the review tries to encourage. The authors argue that marine carbohydrates have too often been studied in terms of individual biological activities, with each research group reporting a single effect in isolation, while clinical development demands an integrated understanding of how structure, production, quality control and mechanism of action fit together. A candidate cannot advance if researchers cannot define its composition precisely, manufacture it consistently and explain how it works at the molecular level. The review therefore treats approved drugs and clinical candidates not just as success stories, but as case studies in how these elements can be aligned.

The priorities for future development that the authors identify are correspondingly practical. They call for reliable production methods based on cultivation, fermentation or enzymatic processing, which would decouple drug supply from wild harvesting and reduce batch-to-batch variation. They emphasize the need for improved quality control that combines structural characterization with activity-based assays, so that manufacturers can verify not only what a batch contains but what it does. They also stress the importance of validating molecular targets and mechanisms of action, and of conducting more rigorous pharmacokinetic and safety studies, areas in which complex carbohydrates have historically lagged behind small-molecule drugs because of their size, heterogeneity and analytical difficulty.

Achieving these goals, the review concludes, will require collaboration across disciplines that do not always work together. Senior and co-corresponding author Guangli Yu of the Ocean University of China notes that progress will depend on close cooperation among researchers in glycoscience, analytical chemistry, synthetic biology, materials science and clinical research. Co-corresponding author Chao Cai, also of the Ocean University of China, shares responsibility for the work, which was conducted within the Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs under the Ministry of Education and the Shandong Key Laboratory of Glycoscience and Glycotherapeutics. The interdisciplinary framing is deliberate: no single field currently possesses all the tools needed to characterize, manufacture and clinically validate a heterogeneous natural polymer.

The significance of the review lies less in any single discovery than in its synthesis. By following a clinical timeline that stretches from a 1969 leukemia drug to today’s trials in virology, oncology, metabolic disease and neurology, it demonstrates that marine carbohydrate therapeutics are not a speculative frontier but an evolving branch of pharmacology with a documented track record. The structural uniqueness of ocean-derived sugars, once a curiosity, is now understood as a design resource, and the field’s remaining challenges are the familiar ones of manufacturing, characterization and clinical evidence. If the collaborative agenda the authors describe takes hold, the next chapters of this timeline may be written not by chance discoveries in tide pools, but by engineered production systems capable of delivering the ocean’s chemistry with pharmaceutical precision.

Subject of Research: Marine carbohydrate-based drug development and clinical translation

Article Title: Marine carbohydrate therapeutics: from structural diversity to clinical translation

Article References: Marine carbohydrate therapeutics: from structural diversity to clinical translation. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: marine carbohydrates, polysaccharides, fucoidan, alginate, carrageenan, drug development, clinical trials, glycoscience, sulfation, antiviral, anticoagulant, Ocean University of China

The logic behind marine pharmacognosy rests on a simple evolutionary principle. Organisms living in extreme or highly competitive environments, such as coral reefs crowded with rivals or the deep sea where pressure is crushing and light is absent, often evolve unique chemical compounds as survival tools. Some of these molecules deter predators, others help an organism compete for space on a crowded reef, and still others allow cells to function under conditions that would kill most life on Earth. For drug hunters, this chemical arms race represents an enormous library of biologically active molecules that have already been tested by millions of years of natural selection. Unlike a randomly synthesized compound, a marine natural product has a demonstrated capacity to interact with living systems, which makes it a promising starting point for drug development.

The review, authored by Shivani Verma, Somesh Saxena, and corresponding author Raj Kumari Kataria, was assembled from peer-reviewed literature retrieved from three major scientific databases: Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. Rather than attempting an exhaustive catalog of every marine compound ever described, the authors deliberately focused on the modern tools that are transforming how discovery happens. High-throughput screening, which enables researchers to rapidly test large numbers of compounds for biological activity, features prominently in their analysis, as do computational biology and genomics. The review also narrows its attention to two detailed case studies of marine-derived drugs that have reached the clinic, trabectedin and vidarabine, using them to illustrate both the promise and the practical difficulties of translating ocean chemistry into medicine.

Trabectedin stands as one of the most celebrated success stories in the field. Derived originally from the sea squirt Ecteinascidia turbinata, a tunicate found in Caribbean and Mediterranean waters, the compound was developed into an approved treatment for soft tissue sarcoma and relapsed ovarian cancer in several regions of the world. Its journey from a slow-growing marine invertebrate to a pharmacy shelf illustrates a recurring theme in marine drug development: the organism that produces a valuable compound is often rare, slow to reproduce, or difficult to cultivate, which makes extracting enough material directly from nature impractical. Solutions have included aquaculture, partial chemical synthesis, and microbial production routes, each of which carries its own technical and economic trade-offs that the review examines in detail.

Vidarabine tells a different but equally instructive story. Isolated from a marine sponge-associated microorganism, this nucleoside analog became one of the early antiviral agents used against herpes virus infections, demonstrating that marine sources can yield not only anticancer agents but also compounds active against viruses. Together, the two case studies span the therapeutic spectrum that marine natural products have touched so far, from cytotoxic molecules that kill cancer cells to antivirals that interfere with viral replication. The review uses this breadth to argue that the ocean’s medicine cabinet is not a narrow specialty but a genuinely diverse source of pharmacological leads, one that includes alkaloids, peptides, nucleosides, and many other chemical classes.

The technological toolkit driving current discovery has changed dramatically from the era when marine drug hunting meant dredging samples and testing crude extracts by hand. High-throughput screening now allows thousands of compounds to be evaluated against disease targets in days rather than months. Computational biology adds the ability to model how a candidate molecule will interact with proteins and receptors before it is ever synthesized in quantity, narrowing the pipeline early and saving resources. Genomic sequencing of marine organisms reveals the biosynthetic gene clusters responsible for producing their chemical weapons, which means researchers can identify promising pathways even in microbes that cannot yet be grown in the laboratory. Synthetic biology then offers a route to reproducing those molecules in tractable host organisms, bypassing the need to harvest the original source.

Yet the review is candid about the barriers that continue to slow the field. Many marine compounds occur naturally only in minute quantities, often as fractions of a percent of the organism’s body mass, which makes direct extraction costly and frequently impossible at commercial scale. The supply problem has historically killed otherwise promising drug candidates, a phenomenon so common in natural products research that it has shaped entire strategies around total synthesis and analog development. Beyond economics, overharvesting poses serious sustainability and conservation risks. A sponge that took decades to grow cannot be stripped from a reef without ecological consequences, and deep-sea ecosystems in particular are fragile, slow to recover, and still poorly understood. The authors argue that these constraints are not peripheral concerns but central design problems for the next generation of marine drug discovery.

The review’s answer to this tension is a firm insistence that sustainable sourcing must sit at the heart of marine pharmacognosy going forward. Synthetic production in the laboratory or in engineered microbes can decouple drug supply from ecosystem damage, while environmentally responsible harvesting practices can protect the organisms and habitats that remain the field’s inspiration. The authors also highlight deep-sea exploration and green chemistry as strategies that can expand the search for new compounds without repeating the extractive mistakes of the past. Green chemistry, which emphasizes processes that reduce or eliminate hazardous substances, aligns naturally with a field whose raw materials come from ecosystems that cannot tolerate industrial abuse. The overarching message is that drug discovery and marine biodiversity protection need not be in conflict; with advanced technology and genuine conservation commitments, both goals can be pursued together.

The urgency of that dual mandate is sharpened by the public health challenges the review identifies, above all antibiotic resistance. As resistance to existing antibiotics spreads worldwide, the need for novel chemical scaffolds with mechanisms of action unlike current drugs has become acute, and marine microorganisms in particular are known producers of antimicrobial compounds. The review frames marine pharmacognosy as a contributor to addressing this and other urgent health threats, provided that the pipeline from ocean organism to approved medicine can be made faster, cheaper, and cleaner. Whether the next trabectedin or vidarabine emerges from a coral reef sponge, a deep-sea microbe, or a fermentation tank programmed with sponge genes will depend on how well the field integrates the tools and the ethics it now has at its disposal.

For now, the review by Verma, Saxena, and Kataria serves as both a status report and a warning. The ocean has already given medicine drugs that fight cancer and viral infection, and the diversity of its reefs, sediments, and microbial communities suggests that this is only the beginning. But the same ecosystems that generate these molecules are under pressure from warming waters, pollution, and habitat destruction, meaning the window for discovery may be closing even as the science accelerates. The authors’ conclusion is that the future of marine pharmacognosy depends on treating the ocean not as a mine to be emptied but as a living library to be read carefully, with every extraction weighed against the health of the source. In that framing, conservation is not an obstacle to the next breakthrough but the condition that makes it possible.

Subject of Research: Marine pharmacognosy and the discovery of bioactive drug compounds from ocean organisms

Article Title: Review surveys the ocean's medicine cabinet, from cancer-fighting alkaloids to antiviral compounds

Article References: Review surveys the ocean's medicine cabinet, from cancer-fighting alkaloids to antiviral compounds. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: marine pharmacognosy, drug discovery, trabectedin, vidarabine, marine natural products, high-throughput screening, genomics, synthetic biology, sustainability, ocean biodiversity, antibiotic resistance, deep-sea exploration

The central question the researchers posed was deceptively simple: does the solvent used to extract a seaweed’s chemistry matter? The answer, emphatically, is yes. The team prepared five distinct extracts of H. scoparia using solvents of increasing polarity, n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol, methanol and water, and then quantified the total polyphenol, flavonoid and tannin content of each using standardized colorimetric assays. This gradient approach is grounded in a well-established principle of natural products chemistry: polar solvents tend to pull phenolic acids, flavonoid glycosides and tannins out of plant and algal tissue, while nonpolar solvents preferentially dissolve lipids, pigments and terpenoid compounds. By comparing the same biomass extracted five ways, the researchers could effectively partition the alga’s chemical inventory into discrete fractions, each with its own biological signature.

The results confirmed the polarity principle with striking clarity. The aqueous extract, the most polar of the five, registered the highest total polyphenol and tannin contents, and it translated that chemical richness into biological performance, topping the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, the ABTS radical scavenging assay and the metal-chelating assay. These three tests probe complementary antioxidant mechanisms: FRAP measures the capacity to reduce ferric ions, a proxy for electron-donating ability; ABTS tracks the neutralization of a stable synthetic radical cation; and metal chelation assesses the ability to bind transition metals such as iron and copper that catalyze the formation of destructive hydroxyl radicals through Fenton chemistry. Tannins, with their dense arrays of hydroxyl groups, are particularly effective metal chelators, which helps explain why the tannin-rich aqueous fraction dominated that particular assay.

The methanolic extract told a different but equally instructive story. It achieved the strongest performance in the DPPH assay, which measures scavenging of a lipophilic synthetic radical, and in the CUPRAC assay, which evaluates the reduction of cupric ions. Meanwhile, the dichloromethane extract, the least polar fraction apart from hexane, showed the greatest activity in the phosphomolybdenum assay, a measure of total antioxidant capacity based on the reduction of molybdenum(VI) to molybdenum(V). The fact that no single extract won every contest is not a contradiction but a feature of antioxidant chemistry: different assays respond to different mechanisms, solubilities and reaction kinetics, and a compound that excels at quenching one radical may be mediocre at reducing a metal ion. For bioprospectors, this means the choice of extraction solvent is effectively a choice of which biological activity to prioritize.

Antioxidant capacity was only half of the pharmacological picture. The team also evaluated the extracts’ ability to inhibit two digestive enzymes, alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, that sit at the heart of post-meal glucose spikes. Alpha-amylase cleaves long starch molecules into shorter oligosaccharides in the mouth and small intestine, and alpha-glucosidase then trims those fragments down to absorbable glucose at the intestinal brush border. Drugs that blunt both enzymes, such as acarbose, are standard adjuncts in the management of type 2 diabetes, but they come with gastrointestinal side effects, which has fueled a sustained hunt for gentler plant- and algae-derived inhibitors. Here the ethanolic and dichloromethane extracts stood out, exhibiting dual inhibitory activity against both enzymatic targets, a result the authors highlight as evidence that H. scoparia’s antidiabetic potential is distributed across chemically distinct fractions rather than confined to a single polar class of compounds.

To move beyond crude extracts, the researchers turned to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which allowed them to tentatively identify individual bioactive compounds within the extracts. Among the molecules flagged by this profiling were sophocarpine, a quinolizidine alkaloid tentatively identified here as an isomer of monocrotaline, and a structurally elaborate phenanthrene carboxylic acid, formally named 1,4a-dimethyl-9-oxo-7-propan-2-yl-3,4,10,10a-tetrahydro-2H-phenanthrene-1-carboxylic acid. The word tentatively matters: HPLC-based identification without full isolation and nuclear magnetic resonance confirmation remains provisional, and the authors are careful to frame their assignments accordingly. Even so, the presence of sophocarpine is particularly noteworthy, because this alkaloid has previously attracted attention in the diabetes literature for its effects on PPAR-gamma-regulated gene expression, a key transcriptional axis in glucose and lipid metabolism.

The study’s most technically ambitious phase was computational. Using molecular docking, the team positioned the tentatively identified compounds inside the three-dimensional active sites of alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, calculating binding affinities and mapping the specific amino acid residues that anchor each ligand. Docking, however, offers only a static snapshot, so the researchers followed up with molecular dynamics simulations, which allow the protein-ligand complexes to flex and breathe in a simulated aqueous environment over time. A ligand that looks perfect in a static dock can fall apart once the enzyme’s loops and side chains begin to move; sustained stability across a dynamics trajectory is therefore a much stronger signal of genuine binding potential. By this combined criterion, sophocarpine and the phenanthrene carboxylic acid emerged as the most promising compounds toward both enzymatic targets, suggesting that the alga’s antidiabetic activity may ultimately trace back to these specific molecules rather than to a diffuse collective effect.

The findings land in a research landscape that has been warming to marine macroalgae as pharmaceutical feedstocks. Previous work on H. scoparia has documented apoptosis-inducing activity in cancer cell lines, antimicrobial effects, antiprotozoal potential and a rich inventory of sulfated polysaccharides, fucoxanthins and mycosporine-like amino acids. A 2024 in vivo study in alloxan-induced diabetic mice had already hinted at the alga’s antihyperglycemic promise. What the new study adds is a rigorous, solvent-resolved map of which chemical fractions carry which activities, plus a computational shortlist of candidate molecules that can now be prioritized for isolation, synthesis and wet-lab validation. It also situates H. scoparia alongside related brown algae, such as Halopithys incurva and Cladostephus spongiosus, that the same Moroccan-Turkish collaboration has recently profiled, building a comparative framework for the region’s phlorotannin-rich seaweed flora.

Significant caveats remain before any of this reaches a pharmacy shelf. In vitro enzyme inhibition does not guarantee clinical efficacy, since intestinal absorption, metabolism and off-target toxicity all intervene between a docking score and a therapeutic effect. The tentative compound identifications require confirmation by isolation and structural elucidation, and the most active extracts will need to be tested in animal models of diabetes and subjected to standard safety pharmacology. Nonetheless, the study makes a persuasive case that a seaweed most people walk past on the beach is a chemically layered resource whose polar fractions deliver antioxidant firepower while its mid-polarity fractions carry dual enzyme-inhibitory activity. As the global burden of type 2 diabetes continues to climb and the search for safer, food-derived enzyme inhibitors intensifies, Halopteris scoparia has earned a place on the shortlist of marine organisms worth watching, and the pipeline from Moroccan tide pools to computational drug design has rarely looked more productive.

Subject of Research: Phytochemical characterization and antioxidant and antidiabetic evaluation of Halopteris scoparia brown alga extracts

Article Title: Exploration of Halopteris scoparia extracts and their bioactive compounds: from phytochemical characterization to in silico investigations

Article References: Aalilou, Y., Zengin, G., Karim, E. M., Hassoun, M., El karfi, W., Moussa, H., Mortada, S., Ak, G., Chtita, S., Ullah, R., Alotaibi, A., Meddah, B., Bouyahya, A., & Faouzi, M. E. A. (2026). Exploration of Halopteris scoparia extracts and their bioactive compounds: from phytochemical characterization to in silico investigations. Plant Biosystems, 160(4), Article 234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44473-026-00237-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44473-026-00237-y

Keywords: Halopteris scoparia, brown algae, antioxidant, antidiabetic, alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, polyphenols, tannins, sophocarpine, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, marine natural products

Palythoa is a genus of colonial cnidarians belonging to the order Zoantharia, closely related to corals and sea anemones. Like sponges, bryozoans and other sessile, soft-bodied invertebrates, these animals live permanently anchored to reefs and rocky intertidal zones, unable to flee predators, competitors or disease. Their survival strategies often depend on the microorganisms that surround and inhabit them, and these partnerships frequently yield biologically active chemicals known as marine natural products. Such compounds are of intense interest for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, biofuels and industrial enzymes, and they have placed marine invertebrates and their microbial symbionts at the center of marine bioprospecting. Palythoa itself is famous as the source of palytoxin, one of the most potent non-protein toxins known, which has demonstrated diverse enzymatic, biochemical and pharmacological activities.

Despite growing evidence that microbes contribute to the biosynthesis of bioactive metabolites in these animals, the ecological roles and functional potential of Palythoa-associated microbes remained poorly understood, particularly in relation to aquaculture. As global demand for fish rises, disease outbreaks caused by microbial pathogens impose severe economic losses on the industry, and the search for sustainable alternatives to conventional antibiotics has become urgent. Earlier work had shown that the Mediterranean zoanthid Parazoanthus axinellae displays antibacterial activity against several fish-pathogenic Vibrio species, but the specific contribution of microbial symbionts to such defenses was largely unexplored. The new study set out to close that gap by characterizing the prokaryotic community of Palythoa sp. from Indian waters and screening cultured isolates for activity against major aquaculture pathogens.

Samples were collected from the Calicut coast in July 2023, transported frozen to the laboratory, rinsed with sterile seawater and surface-sterilized before analysis. For the culture-independent arm of the study, the team extracted metagenomic DNA and sequenced the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Raw paired-end reads were quality-filtered with Trimmomatic, stitched with FLASH, and processed through the QIIME 2 pipeline, with denoising and chimera removal performed by DADA2 and taxonomic classification against the SILVA database. The sequencing yielded 172,005 raw reads, of which 122,615 passed quality control, and 1,117 distinct features were identified in the sample. Good’s coverage of 1.0 indicated that sequencing depth was sufficient to capture the core microbiota.

The diversity statistics were striking. The Shannon index reached 8.05 and the Simpson diversity index 0.99, with a Simpson reciprocal index of 133.45, values that together point to a highly diverse and evenly distributed community. Four bacterial phyla dominated: Firmicutes at 35.99 percent, Proteobacteria at 26.4 percent, Bacteroidota at 16.64 percent and Actinobacteriota at 4.95 percent. All four are known as prolific producers of antimicrobial secondary metabolites. At finer taxonomic resolution, the class Bacilli accounted for 27.38 percent of the community, with the genus Bacillus alone making up 14.89 percent. Gammaproteobacteria were strongly represented within Proteobacteria at 20.9 percent, including members of Vibrionales, Pseudomonadales, Enterobacterales and Burkholderiales. Archaea were also present, dominated by Euryarchaeota, with an uncultured Methanobrevibacter species the most abundant archaeal taxon.

Notably, the community structure deviated from patterns reported for other Palythoa species elsewhere. In corals, Firmicutes are usually recorded at lower proportions than Proteobacteria, yet here Firmicutes took the top position. Alpha-proteobacteria, reported as prevalent in Palythoa australiae and Palythoa caribaeorum in earlier studies, accounted for only 6.11 percent, and Acidobacteriota, a dominant constituent of the Palythoa microbiome in the Mexican Caribbean, was detected at just 1.85 percent. The authors attribute these differences to the influence of geographic location, environmental parameters and the metabolic requirements of the host, underscoring that each zoanthid population may harbor a distinct microbial assemblage shaped by its local context.

Beyond cataloguing diversity, the study inferred possible ecological functions from the taxa present. Photoautotrophic Cyanobacteria may contribute to primary production and carbon fixation, meeting some of the host’s energy demands, while also producing secondary metabolites involved in photoprotection and grazing deterrence. Bacteroidota, proficient degraders of complex polymers such as chitin, and Dadabacteria, known for consuming dissolved organic matter, could participate in carbon cycling within the holobiont. Methanobrevibacter, a CO2-utilizing methanogen, may contribute to carbon turnover, and members of Methylomirabilota perform anaerobic methane oxidation coupled with denitrification, linking the carbon and nitrogen cycles. The team also detected a notable presence of diazotrophs, including Cyanobacteria, Klebsiella, Vibrio, Rhodospirillum and Clostridium, alongside groups capable of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia, suggesting a meaningful microbial contribution to the nitrogen budget of the host in oligotrophic reef environments.

On the culture-dependent side, ten isolates with distinct colony morphologies were recovered on Zobell’s Marine Agar, with a Shannon-Wiener diversity index of 1.085 for the cultured fraction. Two isolates showing potent antibacterial activity were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Micrococcus luteus, each with 99 percent similarity to reference strains, and their sequences deposited in GenBank. Ethyl acetate extracts of their cell-free supernatants were tested by the agar well diffusion method against three notorious aquaculture pathogens: Edwardsiella tarda, Aeromonas hydrophila and Streptococcus agalactiae. All three cause mass mortalities and major economic losses in fish farming; E. tarda is linked to multidrug-resistant outbreaks in ornamental and cultured fish, A. hydrophila commonly afflicts tilapia, goldfish, koi carp and guppy, and S. agalactiae is an emerging zoonotic threat to farmed tilapia. The extracts inhibited all three pathogens, producing clear zones of inhibition on the assay plates.

Molecular screening added a genetic dimension to the results. Using degenerate primers targeting the ketosynthase domain, the researchers detected polyketide synthase-I (PKS-I) genes, with an amplicon size of 1100 base pairs, in both isolates, confirming their genetic potential to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. Intriguingly, non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) genes were absent from both. This pattern contrasts with previous findings: terrestrial S. maltophilia strains have been reported to carry NRPS genes, and some sponge-associated Micrococcus strains lack PKS-I domains entirely. The authors suggest the discrepancy may reflect ecological or evolutionary adaptations specific to the marine environment, where selective pressures could favor certain biosynthetic pathways over others, though they caution that comparative genomics and functional studies would be needed to distinguish gene loss, horizontal transfer or niche-specific specialization.

The study’s implications extend in several directions. If the zoanthid’s microbial partners help defend the host against pathogens, the same bacteria, or the compounds they produce, could be harnessed as sustainable biocontrol agents in fish farming, reducing reliance on conventional antimicrobials at a time when antimicrobial resistance is spreading through aquaculture systems. Other taxa detected in the community hint at further applications, from quorum-sensing quenching by Bacillus and Acinetobacter, which could disrupt pathogenic biofilm formation, to heavy-metal detoxification by Lysinibacillus. The authors are careful to note the limits of their work: functional assignments based on taxonomic identity remain speculative without direct evidence, the nature of the association, whether resident or transient, is unresolved, and questions of host specificity and evolutionary dynamics await deeper investigation. They propose that whole-genome sequencing, transcriptomics and controlled experiments will be essential to validate these ecological roles and to determine the chemical identity, toxicity and production potential of the antibacterial compounds. For now, the sand-encrusted polyps of Palythoa have revealed themselves as more than a curiosity of the intertidal zone; they are a reservoir of microbial diversity whose chemical arsenal may one day help keep the world’s farmed fish healthy.

Subject of Research: Microbial diversity and antimicrobial potential of bacteria associated with the zoanthid Palythoa sp.

Article Title: Microbial diversity and functional potential of prokaryotic community associated with zoanthid, Palythoa sp

Article References: Antony, A., Choweth, A. J., Parambath, P. M., Jayadradhan, R. K. V., Mathew, V., & Preena, P. G. (2025). Microbial diversity and functional potential of prokaryotic community associated with zoanthid, Palythoa sp. Blue Biotechnology, 2(1), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44315-025-00038-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44315-025-00038-6

Keywords: Palythoa, zoanthid, marine microbiome, metagenomics, 16S rRNA, marine natural products, antimicrobial activity, aquaculture, PKS-I, NRPS, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Micrococcus luteus

The target of the study is the gamma-secretase enzyme complex, a molecular machine embedded in cell membranes that performs the final cutting step in the production of amyloid-beta. The complex is built from four proteins: presenilin, nicastrin, APH-1, and PEN-2. When gamma-secretase cleaves the amyloid precursor protein, it can generate the longer and stickier Aβ42 peptide, which aggregates into the extracellular plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s pathology. Because mutations in the presenilin 1 gene are linked to familial forms of the disease and drive elevated Aβ42 output, the PSEN1 subunit has long been considered the prime site for therapeutic intervention.

Blocking gamma-secretase outright, however, has proven dangerous. The enzyme also processes Notch receptors, which govern cell differentiation and development, and complete inhibition has been associated with gastrointestinal toxicity and other serious side effects, a problem that contributed to the clinical failure of drugs such as semagacestat. The field has therefore shifted toward gamma-secretase modulators, compounds that selectively lower Aβ42 while leaving the processing of other substrates untouched. Even here, progress has been rocky: the modulator E2012 showed strong amyloid reduction but raised concerns about effects on cholesterol metabolism, and BMS-932481 was hampered by liver toxicity in early trials.

To guide their search for better modulators, the researchers focused on two reference compounds, BMS 299897 and ELN318463. Both bind at an allosteric pocket at the interface of transmembrane helices six and seven of the PSEN1 subunit, a region distinct from the catalytic aspartates but positioned to influence how the active site handles its substrate. ELN318463 is particularly notable because, in cell-based assays, it shows a seventy-five to one-hundred-twenty-fold preference for blocking amyloid-beta production over Notch signaling. Using the LigandScout software, the team generated individual pharmacophore maps for each drug, mapping out hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, hydrophobic regions, aromatic rings, and halogen bond donors, and then aligned the two maps to build a shared-feature pharmacophore model that captured the essential interaction points common to both inhibitors.

With this model in hand, the team screened the Comprehensive Marine Natural Products Database, a library of roughly 47,451 compounds sourced from algae, sponges, corals, and other marine organisms. After removing duplicates, 43,212 molecules were virtually screened against the shared pharmacophore over approximately forty-eight hours on a sixty-four-core processor. Six compounds emerged as top hits, with the best, CMNPD10454, achieving a pharmacophore fit score of about 110.4, indicating a near-perfect match with the key interaction features. Marine natural products are prized in drug discovery for their unusual chemical architectures, and many display antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective activities, making them attractive starting points for new Alzheimer’s therapies.

The raw hits, however, were structurally complex and considered impractical as direct drug candidates. The team therefore turned to fragment-based de novo design. A key observation drove this step: both BMS 299897 and ELN318463 share a 4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide ring that plays a central role in hydrophobic interactions with the enzyme. Using the AlvaBuilder toolkit, which applies genetic algorithms to molecular design, the researchers generated fifty new synthetic modulators by keeping this ring fixed and grafting bioactive fragments from the marine hits onto it. The design constraints included Lipinski’s Rule of Five parameters, a synthetic accessibility score of five or below, limits on halogen count, and estimated aqueous solubility thresholds, all intended to ensure the resulting molecules were both effective in theory and chemically feasible to make.

The fifty designs were then filtered through absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion profiling with SwissADME, and only three molecules, numbered 6, 24, and 28, were predicted to cross the blood-brain barrier, a filter that has doomed many otherwise promising central nervous system drug candidates. Molecular docking against the human gamma-secretase crystal structure, using the Protein Data Bank entry 5A63, showed that all three bound more tightly than the control drug BMS 299897, which scored minus 8.9 kilocalories per mole. Molecule 6 achieved the best docking energy at minus 10.6 kilocalories per mole, driven by extensive hydrophobic contacts with residues including PHE411, VAL94, and ILE408, while Molecules 24 and 28 scored minus 9.7 and minus 9.6 respectively. Notably, none of the top compounds formed hydrogen bonds with the active site, suggesting that hydrophobic interactions dominate their binding mode.

Molecular dynamics simulations over one hundred nanoseconds, run with the Desmond software using the OPLS_2005 force field and physiological salt conditions, provided further evidence of stability. Molecule 24 produced the most stable protein-ligand complex, with the lowest root mean square deviation of 4.03 angstroms and the lowest residue fluctuation values, maintaining a compact radius of gyration and consistent solvent exposure throughout the simulation. It also formed a hydrogen bond with CYS4 and ionic interactions with LEU243 and LEU244, indicating robust and persistent binding. Toxicity profiling with the OECD QSAR Toolbox predicted no mutagenicity alerts and stable tautomeric forms for the lead compounds, along with lower bioaccumulation factors than the control drug, although renal toxicity alerts resembling a sulfasalazine-like profile warrant future experimental scrutiny.

An intriguing and unexpected finding emerged from the interaction analysis. While Molecule 6 retained strong contact with PSEN1, consistent with the pharmacophore model that guided its design, Molecules 24 and 28 preferentially anchored to the APH-1 subunit of the gamma-secretase complex instead. The precise role of APH-1 in modulating amyloid-beta generation remains uncertain, but prior structural studies suggest it participates in complex assembly and can influence the conformation of the catalytic subunit. The authors argue that these contacts may represent an alternative mechanism of modulation rather than a flaw in the design strategy, and they emphasize that future wet-laboratory experiments will be needed to determine whether APH-1 interactions contribute functionally to enzyme regulation or are merely incidental.

The study also addressed the practical question of how the lead compounds could actually be synthesized. Using the IBM RXN retrosynthesis platform, which combines template-based and template-free neural network approaches with Monte Carlo tree search, the team mapped a stepwise route for Molecule 24 starting from commercially available 4-chlorobenzene sulfonyl chloride, proceeding through click-chemistry and nucleophilic substitution steps to assemble the final structure. While all of these results remain computational predictions that require experimental validation in laboratory and animal models, the work demonstrates how marine chemical diversity, pharmacophore-guided screening, fragment-based design, and molecular simulation can be woven together to accelerate the hunt for safer Alzheimer’s therapies, offering a template for discovering next-generation gamma-secretase modulators that lower amyloid-beta without disrupting the essential cellular pathways that previous drug candidates damaged.

Subject of Research: Computational design of marine-derived gamma-secretase modulators to reduce amyloid-beta production in Alzheimer's disease

Article Title: In silico pharmacophore-guided modeling of marine-derived γ-secretase modulators for amyloid-beta reduction in Alzheimer's disease

Article References: Hossain, M. S., Amin, M. A., Akter, A., Dutta, A., Sakib, M. S. A., Das, L. C., Islam, M. N., & Rahman, M. M. (2026). In silico pharmacophore-guided modeling of marine-derived γ-secretase modulators for amyloid-beta reduction in Alzheimer's disease. Heliyon, 12(15), Article e45453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2026.e45453

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2026.e45453

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, gamma-secretase modulators, marine natural products, pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, amyloid-beta, PSEN1, blood-brain barrier, drug discovery, virtual screening, de novo molecular design

The genus Litophyton, which belongs to the octocoral order Alcyonacea, comprises nearly 100 species distributed across tropical and temperate seas. Colonies can grow up to 80 centimeters tall and appear in pale olive-green, yellow, and grey shades, with a central stalk radiating branches in a characteristic bushy form. Chemically, the genus has earned a reputation as a treasure trove: more than 200 metabolites have been identified from Litophyton species worldwide, including steroids, terpenoids, and meroterpenes, some of which display cytotoxic, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. Recent work on Litophyton brassicum from the South China Sea described meroterpenes with antibacterial activity against pathogenic strains, while other species have yielded compounds capable of inhibiting HIV protease. Yet the authors note that comprehensive antioxidant evaluation and metabolite profiling of specimens from North Borneo, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine regions, remained conspicuously absent from the literature.

To close that gap, the team obtained collection permits from the Sabah Biodiversity Centre and gathered specimens by scuba diving on July 23 and 24, 2024. Species identity was confirmed molecularly rather than by morphology alone: DNA was extracted from 25 milligrams of homogenized coral tissue, and the 18S ribosomal RNA gene was amplified using the EukA and EukB primer pairs under a standardized polymerase chain reaction protocol. The resulting sequences were compared against the NCBI database to verify that the organism was indeed a member of Litophyton. This molecular confirmation matters in a genus where visual identification can be deceptive and where synonymies, such as the historical merging of Nephthea into Litophyton, have complicated comparisons across older studies.

Back at the Borneo Marine Research Institute, the researchers cleaned the coral of symbiotic animals, cut it to increase surface area, and subjected it to methanol maceration for 72 hours at 27 degrees Celsius with shaking at 120 revolutions per minute, repeating the process with fresh solvent to ensure exhaustive extraction. After rotary evaporation of the combined filtrates, the procedure yielded a crude extract corresponding to 2.82 percent of the starting material. That modest yield is typical for soft coral extraction, but the chemical diversity packed into it proved far more interesting than its mass.

Antioxidant capacity was measured with two complementary radical-scavenging assays. In the DPPH assay, which tracks the bleaching of a stable purple radical at 517 nanometers, the extract showed an IC50 value of 42.63 plus or minus 2.98 milligrams per milliliter, meaning that concentration was needed to neutralize half of the radicals present. The ABTS assay, which generates a green radical cation monitored at 734 nanometers, returned a notably better IC50 of 24.53 plus or minus 2.55 milligrams per milliliter. The authors place these numbers in context: a methanol-dichloromethane extract of the related Nephthea from Sulawesi showed far stronger activity, while an ethyl acetate fraction of the same genus was far weaker. The comparison underscores how extraction solvent, chemical composition, and environment jointly shape the antioxidant signature of these animals.

Quantifying the classical antioxidant compound classes produced a revealing result. Total phenolic content came in at just 0.017 milligrams of gallic acid equivalents per gram, while total flavonoid content reached 0.129 milligrams of quercetin equivalents per gram. Both values are low, which fits the known chemistry of the genus: Litophyton species predominantly manufacture terpenoids, particularly sesquiterpenes, rather than the polyphenols that dominate antioxidant activity in plants. Intriguingly, the flavonoid measurement exceeded the phenolic measurement, and qualitative screening confirmed the presence of both flavonoids and phenolic flavonoids. The researchers argue that the extract’s measurable radical-scavenging capacity cannot be attributed to phenolics alone; alkaloids, steroids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids, all detected in the qualitative screen, are also recognized contributors to antioxidant potential. Anthraquinones and anthocyanosides, by contrast, were absent.

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy added a structural layer to the analysis. The spectrum displayed a broad hydroxyl stretch near 3335 wavenumbers, consistent with alcohols and phenolic compounds; a sharp carbon-hydrogen stretch at 2925 wavenumbers typical of aliphatic hydrocarbons; a peak near 1981 wavenumbers in the triple-bond region, suggestive of alkynes or nitriles though possibly an overtone band; a strong carbonyl signal at 1731 wavenumbers characteristic of aldehydes and ketones; and an alkene-related carbon-carbon double-bond stretch at 1643 wavenumbers. Because the sample was a crude extract rather than a purified compound, the fingerprint region below 1500 wavenumbers was excluded from interpretation, but the functional groups identified align well with a mixture rich in fatty acids, terpenoids, and oxygenated organics.

The centerpiece of the study is the liquid chromatography-quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry profiling, run in both positive and negative ionization modes and analyzed with Compound Discoverer software against the mzCloud and ChemSpider databases. Positive mode revealed 57 metabolites spanning a striking range of chemical classes: fatty acids led at 17 percent, followed by fatty amides at 13 percent and aromatic compounds at 9 percent, with amino acids, terpenoids, and heterocyclic compounds each at 7 percent, and alkaloids and steroids at 6 percent. Negative mode detected 18 metabolites dominated by purines at 29 percent, followed by aromatics at 22 percent and fatty amides at 17 percent. Among the identified molecules were several with well-documented antioxidant credentials: trigonelline, an alkaloid known to scavenge reactive oxygen species and confer neuroprotection in models of Alzheimer’s disease; citral, a monoterpenoid that neutralizes free radicals and modulates antioxidant enzymes; acetyl-L-carnitine, which upregulates glutathione defenses; arachidonic acid, a precursor of redox-regulating eicosanoids; and docosahexaenoic acid, the omega-3 fatty acid that raises intracellular glutathione and exhibits anti-inflammatory effects. Pinolenic acid, creatine, jasmone, and dehydroepiandrosterone also appeared, the latter drawing attention for reported anticancer properties, while negative-mode compounds such as adenine, nipecotic acid, isoleucine, and anatabine carry antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory resumes of their own.

The authors are careful to frame the findings within their limits. The work relied on crude extracts, in vitro assays, and specimens from a single location and season, so the results cannot yet be generalized across the genus or the region. Still, the implications are considerable. A soft coral once valued mainly for its ornamental appeal emerges as a plausible source of natural antioxidant agents for functional foods, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals, and the researchers point specifically to aquaculture, where such compounds could support disease management and strengthen seafood security. The next steps they propose are the classic progression of marine drug discovery: isolation and characterization of pure metabolites, mechanistic and synergy studies to explain how the observed activity arises from the mixture, standardized extraction protocols to improve yield and reproducibility, and sustainable harvesting or cultivation strategies that protect the reefs that produce these molecules in the first place. For now, the waters of North Borneo have added a new entry to the growing catalogue of marine organisms whose chemistry may one day translate into medicine.

Subject of Research: Antioxidant activity and metabolite profiling of the marine soft coral Litophyton sp. from Sepanggar Island, North Borneo, Malaysia

Article Title: Elucidation of antioxidant activity and metabolite profiling of the marine soft coral Litophyton sp.

Article References: Fauzi, F. A., Yong, Y. S., Tan, J. K., Chong, E. T. J., Ringgit, G., Siddiquee, S., Tayyab, M., Shapawi, R., & Shah, M. D. (2026). Elucidation of antioxidant activity and metabolite profiling of the marine soft coral Litophyton sp.. Blue Biotechnology, 3(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44315-026-00052-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44315-026-00052-2

Keywords: Litophyton, soft coral, antioxidant, metabolomics, LC-MS, North Borneo, marine natural products, DPPH assay, ABTS assay, fatty acids, trigonelline, bioprospecting

In a study published in the journal Plant Biosystems, Youssra Aalilou of Mohammed V University in Rabat and her colleagues report the first comprehensive laboratory and computational evaluation of the antidiabetic potential of C. spongiosus, a branching brown seaweed of the family Cladostephaceae. The work combined classic enzyme inhibition assays with a battery of modern computational tools, including molecular docking, binding interaction analysis, molecular dynamics simulations and ADMET predictions, to ask a deceptively simple question: can this marine organism, and the nine small molecules previously identified in its extracts, meaningfully block the two key enzymes that drive post-meal glucose spikes?

The experimental design followed a logic that medicinal chemists have refined over decades. The researchers prepared five extracts of the alga using solvents of increasing polarity, a technique that separates the plant’s chemical inventory into fractions rich in different classes of compounds, from nonpolar lipids to highly polar phenolics and sugars. Each extract was then tested for its ability to inhibit alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase, the two carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes of the human digestive tract whose blockade is the pharmacological basis of widely prescribed antidiabetic drugs such as acarbose. Inhibiting these enzymes delays the conversion of complex carbohydrates into absorbable glucose, flattening the blood sugar curve that follows a meal and easing the chronic metabolic stress that damages blood vessels, nerves and organs in diabetic patients.

The results were striking. Among all five extracts, the ethanol extract emerged as the clear standout, delivering the strongest dual inhibition of both enzymes. In quantitative terms, the ethanol extract inhibited alpha-glucosidase at 4.28 mmol acarbose equivalents per gram of extract, a standard measure expressing potency relative to the clinical drug acarbose. Against alpha-amylase, it recorded 0.54 mmol acarbose equivalents per gram in the iodine assay and, in the more sensitive DNSA colorimetric assay, an IC50 value of just 9.73 micrograms per millilitre, meaning that a very small concentration of the extract was enough to halve the enzyme’s activity. Values in this range, particularly for a crude, unfractionated natural extract, suggest a rich reservoir of inhibitory molecules working in concert.

But crude extracts are chemical black boxes, and the Moroccan-led team wanted to open it. Drawing on nine compounds that their earlier phytochemical work had already identified in C. spongiosus extracts, the researchers ran a full computational workup on each molecule to see which of them could plausibly account for the enzyme inhibition measured in the test tube. Molecular docking was used to computationally fit each compound into the active sites of alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase and to estimate binding energies, while binding interaction analysis mapped the specific hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic contacts and other forces holding each ligand in place at the atomic scale.

Docking alone can be misleading, however, because enzymes are not rigid sculptures. To test whether the predicted complexes would survive in a more realistic, dynamic environment, the team turned to molecular dynamics simulations, in which the protein-ligand complexes are allowed to move and flex in a simulated watery solution over time. Compounds whose binding falls apart in such simulations are usually artifacts of static docking; those that remain stably wedged in the active site are far more credible drug leads. In this study, several molecules displayed favorable interactions and stable binding profiles throughout the analyses, with four compounds standing out from the crowd: loliolide, isololiolide, herniarin and a monocrotaline isomer.

These four molecules make an intriguing chemical cast. Loliolide and isololiolide are structurally related carotenoid degradation products, small oxygenated lactones that have attracted growing attention in marine and plant natural products research for antioxidant and pharmacological properties. Herniarin is a simple methoxylated coumarin, a compound class with a long medicinal pedigree, and coumarin derivatives have previously been reported to show antidiabetic activity in other marine and coastal plants. The monocrotaline isomer represents a pyrrolizidine alkaloid scaffold, though the authors note that the toxicology of this class warrants careful attention, which is precisely why the study did not stop at binding predictions.

That attention came in the form of ADMET prediction, a computational screening step that estimates how a candidate molecule would behave in the human body across absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity. Using graph-based pharmacokinetic prediction tools, the researchers assessed whether their top-scoring enzyme inhibitors possessed drug-like properties or carried red flags that would disqualify them from further development. The integration of this pharmacokinetic layer with docking and dynamics data reflects a broader shift in natural products research, where the question is no longer simply whether a compound binds a target, but whether it could ever become a usable medicine.

The broader context makes the findings timely. Marine ecosystems remain dramatically underexplored compared with terrestrial biodiversity, yet seaweeds are already known to produce an extraordinary diversity of bioactive molecules, from phlorotannins and sulfated polysaccharides to carotenoids and terpenes, with reported activities spanning antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antihyperglycemic effects. Brown macroalgae in particular have accumulated a growing body of evidence supporting functional food and pharmaceutical applications. C. spongiosus itself has been the subject of seasonal volatile and antioxidant profiling in earlier studies, and the current work builds directly on the same team’s prior phytochemical characterization of the species, completing a pipeline that runs from specimen collection in the marine ecosystem to validated biological application.

For now, the results remain at the preclinical, exploratory stage: enzyme assays in vitro and simulations in silico, not human trials. The authors are careful to frame the work as identifying C. spongiosus as a promising marine source of bioactive compounds with potential applications in antidiabetic drug discovery, rather than as a ready-made therapy. Yet the convergence of strong dual enzyme inhibition in the ethanol extract, a shortlist of compounds with stable predicted binding to both therapeutic targets, and preliminary drug-likeness profiling gives the field exactly what early-stage natural product discovery needs: a prioritized set of molecules and a mechanistic hypothesis worth testing in the wet lab. If follow-up studies confirm that loliolide, isololiolide, herniarin or their algal companions inhibit carbohydrate digestion as potently in living systems as the computations suggest, the modest tufted seaweed clinging to Atlantic and Mediterranean rocks may yet contribute to the global fight against diabetes.

Subject of Research: Antidiabetic activity of the brown alga Cladostephus spongiosus evaluated through in vitro enzyme inhibition and computational molecular analysis

Article Title: First comprehensive in vitro and in silico investigations of the antidiabetic activity of Cladostephus spongiosus (Cladostephaceae): from marine ecosystem to biological application

Article References: Aalilou, Y., Qostal, M., Karfi, W. E., Rossafi, B., Mortada, S., Hassoun, M., Moussa, H., Zengin, G., Ak, G., Ullah, R., Alotaibi, A., Chtita, S., Bouyahya, A., Meddah, B., & Faouzi, M. E. A. (2026). First comprehensive in vitro and in silico investigations of the antidiabetic activity of Cladostephus spongiosus (Cladostephaceae): from marine ecosystem to biological application. Plant Biosystems, 160(5), Article 253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44473-026-00264-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44473-026-00264-9

Keywords: Cladostephus spongiosus, brown algae, antidiabetic, alpha-glucosidase, alpha-amylase, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, ADMET, loliolide, herniarin, marine natural products, type 2 diabetes