Dysidenin from the Marine Sponge sp. Affects the Motility and Morphology of Larvae In Vitro.

High-throughput screening of the NatureBank marine extract library ( = 7616) using a phenotypic assay for the parasitic nematode identified an active extract derived from the Australian marine sponge sp. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the CHCl/MeOH extract from sp. resulted in the purification of two known hexachlorinated peptides, dysidenin () and dysideathiazole (). Compound inhibited the growth/development of larvae and induced multiple phenotypic changes, including a lethal evisceration () phenotype and/or somatic cell and tissue destruction. This is the first report of anthelmintic activity for these rare and unique polychlorinated peptides.