The biodiversity of marine environment is a unique resource that can provide a huge diversity of natural products. So far some thousands small molecules have been isolated mainly, from invertebrates such as sponges, tunicates, and molluscs, or their associated microorganisms such as marine bacteria or fungi.
The major limiting factor in marine invertebrate chemistry is the sustainable access to the bioresource. In addition to the difficulties involved in harvesting the invertebrates, these sessile animals face various environmental and anthropogenic threats. Many are endangered species and protected through national, regional and international conventions. Attempts to cultivate marine invertebrates or their cells have not, to date, provided a satisfactory solution to the problem of sourcing. This is not only due to the low yield and slow growth rate but it is also a result of taking the invertebrates out of their natural environment, which implies also their removal from the natural physico-chemical constraints and the presence of symbionts. As a consequence the cultivated invertebrates are not able to produce the desired target compounds. Thus the future challenge is to ensure the protection of marine invertebrate biodiversity while meeting the need to provide the drug pipeline with marine natural scaffolds and bioactive compounds.
In order to face this challenge we have developed an innovative strategy for trapping molecules from invertebrates maintained alive in an aquarium. This approach allowed to capture and then isolate five small molecules without applying any stress or injury neither to the animal nor to its environment. LC-HRMS and NMR analyses were implemented for the unambiguous characterization of the isolated molecules revealing all to be guanidine alkaloids while 3 of them were new natural products.
To anticipate the validation of the approach in open marine ecosystems, a specific technology named SomarteX (Self Operating MARine Trapping EXpert) was patented and build in order to be tested in different marine locations and depths.