Aplysiatoxin is a

cyanotoxin Cyanotoxins are toxins produced by cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae). Cyanobacteria are found almost everywhere, but particularly in lakes and in the ocean where, under high concentration of phosphorus conditions, they reproduce exp ...

produced by certain cyanobacteria species. It is used as a defensive secretion to protect these cyanobacteria from predation by fish, being a potent irritant and

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive subs ...

, by acting as a powerful activator of protein kinase C. While this action has a tumour-promoting effect, protein kinase C activation can be medically beneficial for some other applications, and synthetic analogues of aplysiatoxin have been researched for anti-cancer effects.Yanagita RC, Kamachi H, Tanaka K, Murakami A, Nakagawa Y, Tokuda H, Nagai H, Irie K. Role of the phenolic hydroxyl group in the biological activities of simplified analogue of aplysiatoxin with antiproliferative activity. ''Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters''. 2010 Oct 15;20(20):6064-6.

References

{{Cyanotoxins Oxygen heterocycles Cyanotoxins Bromoarenes Lactones Halogen-containing natural products Enzyme activators Phenols

See also

References