Table 1.
Some examples of commercially available marine bioproducts
| Product | Application | Original source |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceuticals | ||
| Prialt® (Elan Corporation, Dublin, Ireland) | Pain management drug | Snail, Conus magus |
| Ara-A (Acyclovir) | Antiviral drug (herpes infections) | Sponge, Cryptotethya crypta |
| Ara-C (Cytosar-U, Cytarabine) | Anticancer drug (leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) | Sponge, Cryptotethya crypta |
| (Brevenal) | Cystic fibrosis | Dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis |
| Molecular probes | ||
| Okadaic acid | Phosphatase inhibitor | Dinoflagellate |
| Manoalide | Phospholipase A2 inhibitor | Sponge, Luffariella variabilis |
| Aequorin | Bioluminescent calcium indicator | Bioluminescent jellyfish, Aequora Victoria |
| Green fluorescent protein (GFP) | Reporter gene | Bioluminescent jellyfish, Aequora Victoria |
| Medical devices | ||
| ProOsteon®, Biocoral® (Interpore) | Orthopedic and cosmetic surgical implants | Coral, mollusc, and echinoderm skeletons |
| Diagnostics | ||
| LALF (Limulus antilipopolysaccharide factor) | Detection of endotoxins (LPS) | Horseshoe crab |
| Enzymes | ||
| Vent™ and DeepVent™ DNA polymerase (New England BioLabs, Inc.) | Polymerase chain reaction enzyme | Deep sea hydrothermal vent bacterium |
| Nutritional supplements | ||
| Formulaid® (Martek Biosciences, Columbia, MD) | Polyunsaturated fatty acids used as additive in infant formula nutritional supplement | Microalgae |
| Pigments | ||
| Phycoerythrin | Conjugated antibodies used in ELISAs and flow cytometry | Red algae |
| Cosmetic additives | ||
| “Marine extract” in Resilience® line of cosmetics (Estée Lauder) | Cosmetic (anti-inflammatory) | Caribbean gorgonian, Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae |
1
Adapted from Pomponi (1999)