ArticleNature chemical biology2022
Biosynthesis of saponin defensive compounds in sea cucumbers.
Article in Nature chemical biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular Pathway and Regulatory Mechanism of the Saponin Biosynthesis in Sea CucumberMarine drugs · 2026Article
- Sterol divergence across eukaryotic kingdoms determines membrane susceptibility to saponins, a class of plant defense compounds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- An Alkaloid Biosynthetic Gene Bundle in Animals.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Structure-activity Relationships of Triterpenoid Saponins Across Phylogenetically Diverse Organisms.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Characterization of Bioactive Saponins from Sea Cucumbers.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- The complete mitochondrial genome ofMitochondrial DNA. Part B, Resources · 2026Article
- Review
- Enzymology and Structural Basis of Glycosyltransferases Involved in Saponin C28 Carboxylic AcidJACS Au · 2025Article
- Cytotoxic Triterpene Glycosides from Mexican Sea CucumberJournal of natural products · 2025Article
- Plant-derived triterpenoid saponins: multifaceted roles and bioengineering prospects.Plant cell reports · 2025Review
- Sequential Extraction of Bioactive Saponins fromMarine drugs · 2025Article
- Prickly Defenders: A Review of Venomous Sea Urchins (Echinoidea).Marine drugs · 2025Review
- Harnessing Thalassochemicals: Marine Saponins as Bioactive Agents in Nutraceuticals and Food Technologies.Marine drugs · 2025Review
- Asteroid Saponins: A Review of Their Bioactivity and Selective Cytotoxicity.Marine drugs · 2024Review
- Structure of Genes Encoding Oxidosqualene Cyclases-Key Enzymes of Triterpenoid Biosynthesis from Sea CucumberInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Sea Cucumber Viscera Contains Novel Non-Holostane-Type Glycoside Toxins that Possess a Putative Chemical Defense Function.Journal of chemical ecology · 2024Article
- The Effect of Ultrasound on the Rehydration Characteristics of Semi-Dried SaltedFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Discovering a uniform functional trade-off of the CBC-type 2,3-oxidosqualene cyclases and deciphering its chemical logic.Science advances · 2023Article
- Saponin Fraction CIL1 fromPharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Saponins of North Atlantic Sea Cucumber: Chemistry, Health Benefits, and Future Prospectives.Marine drugs · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Soft-bodied slow-moving sea creatures such as sea stars and sea cucumbers lack an adaptive immune system and have instead evolved the ability to make specialized protective chemicals (glycosylated steroids and triterpenes) as part of their innate immune system. This raises the intriguing question of how these biosynthetic pathways have evolved. Sea star saponins are steroidal, while those of the sea cucumber are triterpenoid. Sterol biosynthesis in animals involves cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene to lanosterol by the oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) enzyme lanosterol synthase (LSS). Here we show that sea cucumbers lack LSS and instead have two divergent OSCs that produce triterpene saponins and that are likely to have evolved from an ancestral LSS by gene duplication and neofunctionalization. We further show that sea cucumbers make alternate sterols that confer protection against self-poisoning by their own saponins. Collectively, these events have enabled sea cucumbers to evolve the ability to produce saponins and saponin-resistant sterols concomitantly.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.