Natural product discovery via metatranscriptomic analysis of three Caribbean octocoral species.. Caribbean octocoral metatranscriptomics

Octocorals are an important source of bioactive natural products such as the pseudopterosin family of diterpene glycosides which exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity. Despite the promising activity of these molecules their clinical development has been hampered by a lack of sustainable supply. Identification of the genes that direct natural product biosynthesis in octocorals would set the stage for further development of octocoral-derived natural products. Identification of these genes is complicated by the complex symbiotic assemblage hosted by octocorals, which is composed of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic symbionts. As a first step in elucidating natural product biosynthesis in octocorals we acquired metatranscriptomic datasets from two Caribbean octocorals. This data will be analyzed to identify transcripts related to natural product biosynthesis.

八放珊瑚（Octocorals）是一类重要的生物活性天然产物来源，可产生诸如拟蕨素（pseudopterosin）家族二萜糖苷类化合物，这类分子展现出强效抗炎活性。尽管此类分子具备可观的应用前景，但其临床开发却因可持续供给匮乏而受阻。鉴定八放珊瑚中调控天然产物生物合成的基因，将为后续开发八放珊瑚来源的天然产物奠定重要基础。然而，八放珊瑚宿主拥有由真核与原核共生生物共同构成的复杂共生联合体，这使得此类基因的鉴定工作极具挑战性。作为阐明八放珊瑚天然产物生物合成机制的首要步骤，本研究从两种加勒比海八放珊瑚中获取了宏转录组（metatranscriptomic）数据集。后续将对该数据集展开分析，以鉴定与天然产物生物合成相关的转录本（transcripts）。