STUDIES ON THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF DISCORHABDIN-B IN THE NEW-ZEALAND SPONGE LATRUNCULIA SP B

The production of discorhabdins in vivo by preparations of the marine sponge Latrunculia sp. B has been investigated. Slices of sponge tissu e in an artificial medium were shown to effect the incorporation of ra dioactivity from [U-C-14]-L-phenylalanine into discorhabdin B [2], the principal cytotoxic metabolite produced by this organism. Additional experiments have shown that synthesis of this discorhabdin does nor re quire metabolic cooperation of symbiotic microorganisms.