Chemical and biological screening of deep-water sponges from Antarctic regions

The majority of marine natural products (MNPs) originate from tropical and temperate shallow water invertebrates, such as sponges [1]. Recent studies indicate the presence of great genetic diversity in deep-waters that may be linked to unprecedented chemistry due to evolution/adaptation to extremely harsh environmental conditions. However, only less than 2% of MNPs derive from the deep-sea organisms [2]. Antarctic ecosystems are rich in biodiversity [3] and exposed to unique environmental characteristics resulting in communities structured both by biotic interactions (e.g. predation, competition) and abiotic factors (e.g. seasonality, ice-scouring) [4], suggesting a high chemical diversity. In this work, we investigated 39 deep-water sponges collected from the Antarctic Weddell Sea and adjacent areas (depths -100 – 600 m). The freeze-dried sponge samples were extracted with water, followed by MeOH and CH2Cl2 separately. The combined organic extracts were tested for activity against cancer cells [HepG2 (liver) and HT29 (bowel) cancer cell lines], bacteria [ESKAPE panel: Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli) and fungi (yeasts Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans). Several Latrunculia sponge extracts displayed high anticancer activity against both cell lines (IC50 values 0.50 – 3.16 µg/ml). The organic extract of the glass sponge Rossella cf. antarctica showed moderate antibiotic activity towards MRSA and E. faecalis with IC50 values of 96 and 213 µg/ml, respectively. All extracts have undergone chemical profiling/dereplication studies by HPLC-DAD-MS and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The results of chemical and biological screening will assist in selection and activity-guided isolation of Antarctic deep-water sponge metabolites