Chemical defence in sponges

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Abstract
Many sponges are known to synthesize secondary metabolites showing a great diversity of structures and of biological activities. Further-more, the same sponge species, although sessile, exposed to predation and apparently devoid of mechanical or physical defence, suffer negligible predation and are seldom invaded by epizoic organisms. By putting these two observations together, a cause-effect relationship has been repeatedly suggested. Our purpose is to review the existing data and the arguments having led to this proposal. Recent structural studies and biological tests performed in our laboratory will serve to illustrate the complexity of the chemically mediated interactions of sponges with their environment. © 1986 IUPACSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

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