Suitable sources for the discovery of new potentially therapeutic molecules are numerous. There are clear evidences that some microbiological groups, sponges or
even some insects produce bioactive compounds. Bryostatin, a potent anti-tumor agent believed to be produced by symbiont bacteria to protect Bugula neritina marine larva, or other anti-tumor compounds related to pederin, produced by bacterial symbionts detected in marine sponges or terrestrial beetles, are some examples. Additionally, some secondary metabolites of extremophile bacteria or fungi, associated to marine sponges, are promising as bioactive compounds to be applied in pharmacology and biotechnology. Prospecting new sources for such compounds may therefore open fresh perspectives in drug discovery (a constantly growing area in today’s emergent diseases context), as well as industrially interesting metabolites. It is in this context that BIOALVO established a protocol with ICAT for acquiring exclusive commercial rights over a prokaryote collection, named
PharmaBUG, isolated from hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Atlantic Rift, near Azores.
COLLECTION ISOLATION
PharmaBUG collection was obtained from water samples, small animals, sediments and chimneys in four hydrothermal areas: Menez Gwen, Monte Saldanha, Lucky Strike and Rainbow. Menez Gwen, Rainbow and Lucky Strike have intense hydrothermal activity and are characterized by the presence of chimneys where superheated water (ca. 300ºC) and other compounds are expelled. Monte Saldanha is characterized by a hydrothermal field, yet in formation,presenting small orifices scattered throughout the seafloor, where water temperature is around 3-4ºC higher than the average sea temperature in that zone.
COLLECTION CHARACTERISATION
246 bacterial isolates constitute the collection: 139 psychrotolerant anaerobic or facultative anaerobic isolates, 88 psychrotolerant strict or facultative anaerobic isolates and 19 mesophile or thermophile strict anaerobic isolates.
Phenetic characterization studies of the collection, through molecular and quimiotaxonomic typification methods, have permitted to define related clusters, organized according to genetic profile similarities. The majority of the isolated strains are probably new strains, never identified before. Based on this, 140 representatives of all identified groups were selected to produce the extract library. Today, the PharmaBUG extracts library consists of:
COLLECTION ISOLATION
PharmaBUG collection was obtained from water samples, small animals, sediments and chimneys in four hydrothermal areas: Menez Gwen, Monte Saldanha, Lucky Strike and Rainbow. Menez Gwen, Rainbow and Lucky Strike have intense hydrothermal activity and are characterized by the presence of chimneys where superheated water (ca. 300ºC) and other compounds are expelled. Monte Saldanha is characterized by a hydrothermal field, yet in formation,presenting small orifices scattered throughout the seafloor, where water temperature is around 3-4ºC higher than the average sea temperature in that zone.
COLLECTION CHARACTERISATION
246 bacterial isolates constitute the collection: 139 psychrotolerant anaerobic or facultative anaerobic isolates, 88 psychrotolerant strict or facultative anaerobic isolates and 19 mesophile or thermophile strict anaerobic isolates.
Phenetic characterization studies of the collection, through molecular and quimiotaxonomic typification methods, have permitted to define related clusters, organized according to genetic profile similarities. The majority of the isolated strains are probably new strains, never identified before. Based on this, 140 representatives of all identified groups were selected to produce the extract library. Today, the PharmaBUG extracts library consists of:
• 187 extracts distributed in 96 crude organic extracts and 91 crude aqueous extracts
• All extracts can be supplied as 5 mg/200 μl, in a 96-well microplate format
• Database with the details of each extract (sample code, origin, growth conditions, method of extraction and other relevant data) is also available. A selection of the database is presented in TABLE 1 ( click to see table and description )
These extracts are available for licensing purposes and similar business models.
