Leading Question
Biosynthetic Hypothesis:
Sceptrin is among a class of dimeric pyrrole imidazole natural products. Scientists are becoming increasingly more interested in these molecules, which have fascinating connectivities, topologies and nitrogen contents. Sceptrin has been proven to be an important compound in the ecology of marine organisms. For example, through examining various molecules like sceptrin, chemists derived conclusions about the functionality of nudibranchs in specific species of sponges. Understanding the role of nudibranches led scientists to question the chemical ecology of sponges. Perhaps the most commonly cited biosynthetic hypothesis is that nudibranches helped certain species of sponges release metabolites in their bodies, which helped to defend them against fish predators. Scientists believe that this chemical defense system was adaptive, which evolved over time through natural selection to help organisms, such as sponges, survive from predators. Sceptrin and other such natural products show great potential in the pharmaceutical industry as researchers are discoveri
ng more biological uses of these molecules. Sceptrin, for example, has been proven to be a powerful antiviral, antibacterial, antihistaminic and antimuscarinic. In addition, sceptrin serves as an important precursor in creating other alkaloids, such as Ageliferin or nagelamides. These other alkaloids also have biological properties that can greatly impact both the advancement of science and medicine.
Andersen, R. J.; Ireland, C. M.; Molinski, T. F.; Bewley, C. A. J. Nat. Prod. 2004, 67, 1239-1251.
Papers that cited the paper immediately above
Paper1: Bultman, M.S.; Ma, J.; Gin, D.Y. Angewandte Chemie 2008, 6821-6824.
Paper 2: Dickson, D.P.; Wardrop D.J. Org. Lett. 2009, 11, 1341-1344.