KOCHI UNIVERSITY

Researchers from Chuo University and Kochi University elucidated the stereostructure of anticancer marine natural products, iriomoteolide-1a and -1b, through NMR analysis, theoretical calculation, and total synthesis, validating their nanomolar cytotoxic activity in human cancer cells.

Marine microbiologist Tyler Coale discovered a nitrogen-fixing organelle, the nitroplast, in the eukaryotic marine alga Braarudosphaera bigelowii, challenging the belief that only prokaryotes could fix nitrogen. The organelle, UCYN-A, was found to acquire essential proteins from its host, indicating it does not fix nitrogen independently and suggesting it is a younger organelle, possibly only 100 million years old.