• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Sunday, October 5, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

What sea cucumbers can teach us about self-defence

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 27, 2022
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Sea Cucumber
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Genome mining techniques have helped to explain how sea cucumbers produce defensive chemicals that enable them to fend off foes in the murky depths. 

Sea Cucumber

Credit: Frithjof Kuepper University of Aberdeen

Genome mining techniques have helped to explain how sea cucumbers produce defensive chemicals that enable them to fend off foes in the murky depths. 

Sea cucumbers are a food delicacy in south Asia where their cultivation is a multi-million-dollar industry. The molecules they produce to defend their ecological niche at the bottom of the ocean are highly valued for their medicinal properties. 

These curious marine animals produce a category of molecule known as triterpenoid saponins which are widespread in plants, but rare in animals.  

Until now the question of how they evolved their unusual ability to produce these molecules has been unexplained. 

An international research collaboration investigated the genome of sea cucumbers and compared them with those of other Echinoderms, such as sea stars and sea urchins.  

Analysis showed that an enzyme found across all kingdoms of life that makes sterols, essential for building membranes and hormones, was missing in sea cucumber. 

In sea cucumbers this sterol-producing function had been diverted to produce two new genes in this enzyme family. Using molecular biology, the researchers isolated the genes, transferred them to yeast and analysed the extracts.  

This showed that the genes have acquired new functions; one of them makes an alternative type of saponin that the sea cucumber uses for self-defence, and the other produces molecules that protect the creature from the toxic effects of its own chemicals. 

Chemical analysis showed that these genes required for the synthesis of self-defence compounds were expressed more in the outside layers of tissue.  

The next stage for this research is to find the remaining chemical steps necessary to make these potentially high value chemicals so that they can be produced using plants or yeast more cheaply and help conserve sea-cucumbers in their natural habitats. 

Saponins are widespread natural products, with more than 20,000 reported. They have a wide range of uses, traditionally as a source of soap and more recently as vaccine adjuvants, foaming agents, antifungal treatments and emulsifiers.  

Many animals use toxins as chemical defences – usually obtained from food or produced via symbiotic relationships. Echinoderms, in contrast, biosynthesise their toxins themselves. 

Professor Anne Osbourn, a group leader at the John Innes Centre, and corresponding author of the study said: “Sea cucumbers are massively important in Asia as a health benefiting food source and for traditional medicines. So, if we can understand how their molecules are made, we can make these high value compounds without needing to grind up sea cucumbers. We can make them using plants or yeast.” 

Innate immunity in sea cucumbers: repurposing sterol biosynthesis for defense is in Nature Chemical Biology. 



Journal

Nature Chemical Biology

DOI

10.1038/s41589-022-01054-y

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Innate immunity in sea cucumbers: repurposing sterol biosynthesis for defense

Article Publication Date

27-Jun-2022

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Exploring Splicing Patterns in Medicinal Rheum Palmatum

October 5, 2025
NR2E1 Gene Methylation Influences Beef Cattle Adipocytes

NR2E1 Gene Methylation Influences Beef Cattle Adipocytes

October 5, 2025

“Rice Cultivar Transcriptome Reveals Heat Stress Response Genes”

October 4, 2025

Revolutionary Graph Network Enhances Protein Interaction Prediction

October 4, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    94 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    92 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • New Insights Suggest ALS May Be an Autoimmune Disease

    70 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

ICU Nurses’ Perspectives on End-of-Life Care

Exploring Splicing Patterns in Medicinal Rheum Palmatum

Exchange Transfusion Impact on Severe Infant Pertussis

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm' to start subscribing.

Join 62 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.