Microcalorimetry was used to show that transition-temperature ranges of phospho- and glycolipids of the brown marine alga Laminaria japonica were similar (from -62 to -47 degrees C up to 62-65 degrees C), except for monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, the low-temperature limit of which was shifted to -78 degrees C. As was shown by polarizing microscopy, the low-enthalpy peaks at temperatures of appro...

The ethyl acetate soluble part of a methanolic extract of the marine green alga Codium iyengarii, collected from the Karachi coast of the Arabian Sea, afforded four new derivatives of glycerol named : codioside A,B,C,D (1-4), a new derivative of frans-phytol named codioester (5) and rrans-phytol (6). The structures of 1-5 were elucidated with the aid of acid hydrolysis, methylation, GC-MS, and ...

The number of scintillons, which are cellular organelles responsible for light emission in the marine alga Gonyaulax, were counted by both immunofluorescence and electron microscopic methods and found to vary tenfold between subjective day and subjective night. The number of scintillons peaks during the subjective night, as does stimulated bioluminescence (flashing). Furthermore, the number dro...

Three new asperentin-type compounds, 6-O-α-d-ribosylasperentin (1) and 6-O-α-d-ribosyl-8-O-methylasperentin (2) and 5-hydroxyl-6-O-methylasperentin (3), along with asperentin (4) and its known analogues (5-9), were isolated from a halotolerant Aspergillus sp. strain F00785, an endotrophic fungus from marine alga. Their structures were determined using extensive NMR and HRESIMS spectroscopic ana...

The marine green alga Ostreococcus tauri is the smallest-known free-living eukaryote. The recent sequencing of its genome extends this distinction, because it also has one of the smallest and most compact nuclear genomes. For other highly compacted genomes (e.g. those of microsporidian parasites and relic endosymbiont nucleomorphs), compaction is associated with severe gene loss. By contrast, O...

An arsenic-chelating metallothionein (fMT) from the arsenic-tolerant marine alga Fucus vesiculosus was expressed in Escherichia coli, resulting in 30- and 26-fold-higher As(III) and As(V) binding, respectively. Coexpression of the As(III)-specific transporter GlpF with fMT further improved arsenic accumulation and offered high selectivity toward As. Resting E. coli cells coexpressing fMT and Gl...

Effects of an alginate oligosaccharide mixture (AOM) on Nannochloropsis oculata, a unicellular marine microalga, were investigated. The growth of N. oculata was significantly promoted by AOM in a concentration-dependent manner. The maximum effect was attained at 20 mg/ml, at which the growth rate of the alga became nearly 5 times higher than that of control without AOM. The growth-promoting eff...

Kahalalide compounds are peptides that are isolated from a Hawaiian herbivorous marine species of mollusc, Elysia rufescens, and its diet, the green alga Bryopsis sp. Kahalalide F and its synthetic analogues are the most promising compounds of the Kahalalide family because they show antitumoral activity. Linear solid-phase syntheses of Kahalalide F have been reported. Here we describe several n...

The results of a study on morphological features and reproductive phenology the brown alga Cystoseira foeniculacea f. tenuiramosa (Ercegović) A. Gómez Garreta, M.C. Barceló, M.A. Ribera & J. Rull Lluch from marine lagoon Strunjan (Gulf Trieste), are reported. Based monthly samplings carried out during one year period, it was observed that this species shows considerable seasonal variati...