Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Marine invertebrates have proven to be a prolific source of novel chemical structures which often exhibit intriguing and useful biological activities. For example, gorgonians, a group of corals which are prominent members of tropical and subtropical habitats worldwide, have yielded a large variety of novel bioactive natural products, particularly terpenes. Terpenes exhibit a range of biomedical activities and are extremely valuable for their anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Despite the great potential of such marine natural products in a variety of applications, the development of these compounds has been hampered by the lack of an available supply. This limited supply is generally considered to be a significant impediment in the transformation of a marine natural product into a commercial entity. The research project described in this proposal is a part of a larger research program which aims to develop a sustainable production method of fuscol and fuscosides, a family of potent anti-inflammatory terpenes from a gorgonian coral. This specific project builds on our past experience and is designed to develop key components of two complementary production methods of the fuscosides. If successful, this project will also lay the groundwork for production methods of a wide variety of marine-derived terpenes with numerous applications. Our general approach is to produce a key intermediate through heterologous expression of a key biosynthetic gene and complete the production of known and new analogues of fuscosides via synthesis. Thus, successful completion of this project will help facilitate the development of a wide range of terpenoid marine natural products with therapeutic activity that otherwise may not be developed. This will be of benefit to the health of the Canadian public.