UCIBIO - Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal; MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
UCIBIO - Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
Environ Res. 2019 Jun;173:270-280. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.03.048. Epub 2019 Mar 22.
Marine biotechnology is under the spotlight, as researchers and industrialists become aware that bioprospecting through the oceans' vast biodiversity can replace the painstaking process of designing synthetic compounds. Millions of years of Natural Selection provided an almost inexhaustible source of marine products that can interfere with specific bioprocesses while being cost-effective, safer and more environmentally friendly. Still, the number of commercial applications of marine compounds, especially from eumetazoans, can seem disappointing. In most part, this results from the challenges of dealing with an immense biodiversity and with poorly known organisms with uncanny physiology. Consequently, shifting the current perspective from descriptive science to actually proposing applications can be a major incentive to industry. With this in mind, the present review focuses on one of the least studied but most representative group of marine animals: the Polychaeta annelids. Occupying nearly every marine habitat, from the deep sea to the intertidal, they can offer a wide array of natural products that are just beginning to be understood, showing properties compatible with anaesthetics, fluorescent probes, and even antibiotics and pesticides, for instance. Altogether, they are a showcase for the ocean's real biotechnological deterrent, albeit our still wispy knowledge on this vast and ancient environment.
海洋生物技术备受关注，研究人员和工业界意识到，通过海洋丰富的生物多样性进行生物勘探可以替代设计合成化合物的艰苦过程。数百万年的自然选择为我们提供了几乎用之不竭的海洋产品来源，这些产品具有成本效益、更安全且对环境更友好，可以干扰特定的生物过程。然而，海洋化合物的商业应用数量，特别是来自后生动物的商业应用数量，可能看起来令人失望。在很大程度上，这是由于处理巨大的生物多样性和生理结构奇特但知之甚少的生物体的挑战所致。因此，将当前的视角从描述性科学转变为实际提出应用的角度，可能会对工业界产生重大激励。有鉴于此，本综述重点介绍了海洋动物中研究最少但最具代表性的群体之一：多毛类环节动物。它们几乎占据了从深海到潮间带的每一个海洋栖息地，它们可以提供各种各样的天然产物，这些产物才刚刚开始被人们所了解，表现出与麻醉剂、荧光探针甚至抗生素和杀虫剂等相容的特性。总的来说，它们是海洋真正生物技术威慑力的一个展示，尽管我们对这个广阔而古老的环境的了解仍然有限。
