Luffariella variabilis

Deciphering the behavioural ecology of adult (sessile) sponges is challenging. However, their motile larval stages afford opportunities to investigate how behaviour contributes to dispersal and selection of habitat. Light is a fundamental cue contributing to larval sponge dispersal where photoreceptive cells contribute to this process. But how universal is light as a cue to sponge larval dispersal and settlement? Behavioural choice experiments were used to test the effect of light on dispersal and settlement behaviours...

BACKGROUND: Many people are troubled by allergic inflammation including ocular allergic diseases, anaphylaxis, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and eczema. Consequently, finding medications for use in allergic inflammation therapy is crucial in human health. Manoalide, a marine natural product isolated as an anti-bacterial metabolite from Luffariella variabilis , is a calcium channel blocker. However, its latent ability as an anti-allergic inflammatory agent has not yet been reported...

Thirteen new linear terpenes, including 11 rare acyclic manoalide derivatives ( 1 - 11 ), one polyprenylphenol derivative ( 12 ), and one polyprenylbenzaldehyde derivative ( 13 ), together with three known compounds ( 14 - 16 ) were isolated from the sponge Luffariella variabilis collected in the South China Sea. The planar structures were resolved by NMR and MS analyses, while the absolute configurations were fully elucidated by NOESY experiments, combined with experimental and calculated ECD spectra, acetal formation, empirical rules of 1 H and 13 C NMR shifts, DP4+ probability analyses, and Mosher's method...

Two new sesterterpenoids, 1 and 2, were isolated from the sponge Luffariella variabilis . Their planar structures were characterized with spectroscopic analyses. The sole chiral center of compound 1 was elucidated as 12 R by comparing observed and calculated optical rotation values. The configurations of compound 2 were determined by NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) studies. Furthermore, compound 2 showed cytotoxicity at IC50 1.0 µM against NBT-T2 cells.

A new manoalide-related sesterterpene, (4E,6E)-dehydro-25-O-methylmanoalide (1), was isolated from the organic extracts of the Bornean marine sponge Luffariella variabilis, together with the known compound (4E,6E)-dehydromanoalide (2). The structure of compound 1 was elucidated by interpretation of its spectroscopic data.

For sessile marine invertebrates with complex life cycles, habitat choice is directed by the larval phase. Defining which habitat-linked cues are implicated in sessile invertebrate larval settlement has largely concentrated on chemical cues which are thought to signal optimal habitat. There has been less effort establishing physical settlement cues, including the role of surface microtopography. This laboratory based study tested whether surface microtopography alone (without chemical cues) plays an important contributing role in the settlement of larvae of coral reef sessile invertebrates...

Two new β-carboline alkaloids, variabines A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the Indonesian marine sponge Luffariella variabilis. Their structures were elucidated from spectral data, and 1 was found to be a sulfonated derivative of 2. Although numerous β-carboline alkaloids have been isolated from natural sources to date, 1 is the first β-carboline derivative containing a sulfate group. Compound 2 inhibited chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome and Ubc13 (E2)-Uev1A interaction with IC50 values of 4 and 5 μg/mL, respectively, whereas 1 had little effect on the activity or interaction...

The viviparous Great Barrier Reef sponge Luffariella variabilis (Poléjaeff 1884) contains a range of secondary metabolites, including manoalide (1) and manoalide monoacetate (3). ESI (+) FTICR-MS accurate mass determination has, for the first time, been used to detected the presence of 3 only in an organic extract of a single L. variabilis larva showing that the parentally produced 3 is sequestered in the larva. As 3 has previously been shown to have antibacterial and quorum sensing inhibition activity, and readily converts to 1, which also exhibits similar activity, it may provide a chemical defence against predation and microbial attack...

A new manoalide-related sesterterpene, 24-O-ethylmanoalide (3), was isolated from the Indian Ocean sponge Luffariella cf. variabilis, together with the known compounds manoalide (1), seco-manoalide, manoalide monoacetate and 24-O-methylmanoalide (2). The structure of compound 3 was elucidated by interpretation of its spectroscopic data.

With the global emergence of multiresistant bacteria there is an increasing demand for development of new treatments to combat pathogens. Bacterial cell-cell communication [quorum sensing (QS)] regulates expression of virulence factors in a number of bacterial pathogens and is a new promising target for the control of infectious bacteria. We present the results of screening of 284 extracts of marine organisms from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, for their inhibition of QS. Of the 284 extracts, 64 (23%) were active in a general, LuxR-derived QS screen, and of these 36 (56%) were also active in a specific Pseudomonas aeruginosa QS screen...

The Great Barrier Reef sponge Luffariella variabilis (Poléjaeff 1884) produces a range of potent anti-inflammatory compounds as its major metabolites. These major metabolites-manoalide monoacetate, manoalide, luffariellin A and seco-manoalide-were monitored temporally and spatially to quantify the potential yield from wild harvest or aquaculture. Production of the major metabolites was hardwired at the population level with little variation in space and time over meters to tens of kilometers in the Palm Islands, Queensland, Australia...

Chemical investigation of the sponge Luffariella variabilis collected from the Palm Island group of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, yielded three new acetylated compounds, 25-acetoxyluffariellin A (1), 25-acetoxyluffariellin B (2), and 25-acetoxyseco-manoalide (3). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of interpretation of their spectroscopic data. The known metabolites manoalide (4), seco-manoalide (5), luffariellin A (8), and manoalide monoacetate (10) were also isolated. The new acetylated compounds (1-3) were labile in the sponge tissue when samples were allowed to thaw prior to extraction, but were stable once isolated...