Novel brominated metabolites from Bryozoa: a functional analysis

Abstract

<p>Marine invertebrates are a promising source of novel natural products with biological activities. The phylum Bryozoa is relatively under-investigated in this context, although a number of compounds with medical potential has been discovered in recent years. Here, we report on the novel group of brominated metabolites from the bryozoan <i>Terminoflustra membranaceatruncata</i>, including analysis of biological activities of the tribrominated terminoflustrindole A (Cm-1) and the structures of the related dibrominated variants terminoflustrindoles B and C. Terminoflustrindole A was previously shown to have fungicidal properties. Although they vary by just one bromine group in each case from terminoflustrindole A, in this study, we report that terminoflustrindoles B and C exhibit no antimicrobial activity in the same assays. In addition to displaying antifungal activity, Terminoflustrindole A was also found to exhibit potent cytotoxic activity when tested against tumour cell lines. The gradient distribution of this compound within the bryozoan colony was demonstrated using LC-MS-analysis.</p