Marine mollusks from Australia and New Zealand: chemical and ecological studies.

Abstract

Marine mollusks contain structurally diverse terpenes, polyketides, polypropionates and nitrogenous metabolites that may confer an ecological advantage on the host organism. From a chemical perspective, the most studied Australian taxa include representatives of the nudibranchs and sea hares, which are characterised by terpenes acquired from their specialised diets of sponges and algae, respectively. In contrast, siphonariid limpets that are prevalent on temperate seashores carry out de novo biosynthesis of polypropionate metabolites. Nitrogenous compounds isolated from Australian marine mollusks include precursors to the first commercially significant marine bioproduct, Tyrian Purple, and metabolites that are characteristic of ingested cyanobacteria.