Comparative Chemical Profiling and Antimicrobial/Anticancer Evaluation of Extracts from Farmed versus Wild Agelas oroides and Sarcotragus foetidus Sponges

This study was implemented in the framework of the research project SPINAQUA (Grant No 239) funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) under the “1st call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects for the support of Post-doctoral Researchers”. This publication is based upon work from COST Action CA18238 (Ocean4Biotech), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) program, which provided Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) grant support to D.V.-M. to perform the experimental work at NOVA-FCT. C.M.P.R. is financially supported by La Caixa Foundation (Grant No LCF/PR/HR21/52410028). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Marine sponges are highly efficient in removing organic pollutants and their cultivation, adjacent to fish farms, is increasingly considered as a strategy for improving seawater quality. Moreover, these invertebrates produce a plethora of bioactive metabolites, which could translate into an extra profit for the aquaculture sector. Here, we investigated the chemical profile and bioactivity of two Mediterranean species (i.e., Agelas oroides and Sarcotragus foetidus) and we assessed whether cultivated sponges differed substantially from their wild counterparts. Metabolomic analysis of crude sponge extracts revealed species-specific chemical patterns, with A. oroides and S. foetidus dominated by alkaloids and lipids, respectively. More importantly, farmed and wild explants of each species demonstrated similar chemical fingerprints, with the majority of the metabolites showing modest differences on a sponge mass-normalized basis. Furthermore, farmed sponge extracts presented similar or slightly lower antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, compared to the extracts resulting from wild sponges. Anticancer assays against human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116) revealed marginally active extracts from both wild and farmed S. foetidus populations. Our study highlights that, besides mitigating organic pollution in fish aquaculture, sponge farming can serve as a valuable resource of biomolecules, with promising potential in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.publishersversionpublishe

Organic residues in archaeology - the highs and lows of recent research

YesThe analysis of organic residues from archaeological materials has become increasingly important to our understanding of ancient diet, trade and technology. Residues from diverse contexts have been retrieved and analysed from the remains of food, medicine and cosmetics to hafting material on stone arrowheads, pitch and tar from shipwrecks, and ancient manure from soils. Research has brought many advances in our understanding of archaeological, organic residues over the past two decades. Some have enabled very specific and detailed interpretations of materials preserved in the archaeological record. However there are still areas where we know very little, like the mechanisms at work during the formation and preservation of residues, and areas where each advance produces more questions rather than answers, as in the identification of degraded fats. This chapter will discuss some of the significant achievements in the field over the past decade and the ongoing challenges for research in this area.Full text was made available in the Repository on 15th Oct 2015, at the end of the publisher's embargo period

Isotopic characterization of aerosol organic carbon components over the eastern United States

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): D13303, doi:10.1029/2011JD017153.Carbon isotopic signatures (δ13C, Δ14C) of aerosol particulate matter total organic carbon (TOC) and operationally defined organic carbon (OC) components were measured in samples from two background sites in the eastern U.S. TOC and water-soluble OC (WSOC) δ13C values (−27 to −24‰) indicated predominantly terrestrial C3 plant and fossil derived sources. Total solvent extracts (TSE) and their aliphatic, aromatic, and polar OC components were depleted in δ13C (−30 to −26‰) relative to TOC and WSOC. Δ14C signatures of aerosol TOC and TSE (−476 to +25‰) suggest variable fossil contributions (~5–50%) to these components. Aliphatic OC while comprising a small portion of the TOC (<1%), was dominated by fossil-derived carbon (86 ± 3%), indicating its potential utility as a tracer for fossil aerosol OC inputs. In contrast, aromatic OC contributions (<1.5%) contained approximately equal portions contemporary (52 ± 8%) and fossil (48 ± 8%) OC. The quantitatively significant polar OC fraction (6–25% of TOC) had fossil contributions (30 ± 12%) similar to TOC (26 ± 7%) and TSE (28 ± 9%). Thus, much of both of the fossil and contemporary OC is deduced to be oxidized, polar material. Aerosol WSOC consistently showed low fossil content (<8%) relative to the TOC (5–50%) indicating that the majority of fossil OC in aerosol particulates is insoluble. Therefore, on the basis of solubility and polarity, aerosols are predicted to partition differently once deposited to watersheds, and these chemically distinct components are predicted to contribute in quantitatively and qualitatively different ways to watershed carbon biogeochemistry and cycling.ASW was partially supported by a Graduate Fellowship from the Hudson River Foundation during the course of this study. Additional funding for this work came from a NOSAMS student internship award, a fellowship award from Sun Trust Bank administered through the VIMS Foundation, a student research grant from VIMS, and the following NSF awards: DEB Ecosystems grant DEB-0234533, Chemical Oceanography grant OCE-0327423, and Integrated Carbon Cycle Research Program grant EAR-0403949 to JEB; and Chemical Oceanography grant OCE-0727575 to RMD and JEB.2013-01-0

Chemical reactivity and long-range transport potential of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – a review

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of considerable concern due to their well-recognised toxicity and especially due to the carcinogenic hazard which they present. PAHs are semi-volatile and therefore partition between vapour and condensed phases in the atmosphere and both the vapour and particulate forms undergo chemical reactions. This article briefly reviews the current understanding of vapour-particle partitioning of PAHs and the PAH deposition processes, and in greater detail, their chemical reactions. PAHs are reactive towards a number of atmospheric oxidants, most notably the hydroxyl radical, ozone, the nitrate radical (NO3) and nitrogen dioxide. Rate coefficient data are reviewed for reactions of lower molecular weight PAH vapour with these species as well as for heterogeneous reactions of higher molecular weight compounds. Whereas the data for reactions of the 2-3-ring PAH vapour are quite extensive and generally consistent, such data are mostly lacking for the 4-ring PAHs and the heterogeneous rate data (5 and more rings), which are dependent on the substrate type and reaction conditions, are less comprehensive. The atmospheric reactions of PAH lead to the formation of oxy and nitro derivatives, reviewed here, too. Finally, the capacity of PAHs for long range transport and the results of numerical model studies are described. Research needs are identified

Occurrence and diurnal variation of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the background atmosphere of Eastern Mediterranean.

During a two-week intensive field campaign conducted at a background location of the Eastern Mediterranean, consecutive 10-h air samples were collected under intense photochemical conditions and analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The average gas-phase concentration of total PCBs and PBDEs was 73+/-29 and 3.9+/-2.1 pg m(-3), respectively. The study of Clausius-Clapeyron plots and air mass back-trajectories assigned the origin of air masses as the factor largely controlling the variation of PCB and PBDE air concentrations in the study area. Using principal component analysis, discrete differences in PCBs homologue profiles were revealed between day and night samples and attributed to the daytime reaction with hydroxyl radicals. In contrast, PBDE homologue profiles did not show any characteristic day-to-night shifts that could be attributed to hydroxyl radical reaction or photolysis

Influence of hydrothermal venting on water column properties in the crater of the Kolumbo submarine volcano, Santorini volcanic field (Greece)

The Kolumbo submarine volcano, located 7 km northeast of the island of Santorini, is part of Santorini’s volcanic complex in the south Aegean Sea, Greece. Kolumbo’s last eruption was in 1650 AD. However, a unique and active hydrothermal vent field has been revealed in the northern part of its crater floor during an oceanographic survey by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in 2006. In the present study, conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data collected by ROV Hercules during three oceanographic surveys onboard E/V Nautilus in 2010 and 2011 have served to investigate the distribution of physicochemical properties in the water column, as well as their behavior directly over the hydrothermal field. Additional CTD measurements were carried out in volcanic cone 3 (VC3) along the same volcanic chain but located 3 km northeast of Kolumbo where no hydrothermal activity has been detected to date. CTD profiles exhibit pronounced anomalies directly above the active vents on Kolumbo’s crater floor. In contrast, VC3 data revealed no such anomalies, essentially resembling open-sea (background) conditions. Steep increases of temperature (e.g., from 16 to 19 °C) and conductivity near the maximum depth (504 m) inside Kolumbo’s cone show marked spatiotemporal correlation. Vertical distributions of CTD signatures suggest a strong connection to Kolumbo’s morphology, with four distinct zones identified (open sea, turbid flow, invariable state, hydrothermal vent field). Additionally, overlaying the near-seafloor temperature measurements on an X–Y coordinate grid generates a detailed 2D distribution of the hydrothermal vent field and clarifies the influence of fluid discharges in its formation. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg