Sea cucumbers need to avoid killing themselves with their own toxins in order to avoid this chemical defense. The cholesterol target that the saponins bind to can't be contained in their own cells. Lathosterol and 9(11) sterols are cholesterol alternatives that are similar to the function of maintaining cell membranes. Sea cucumbers can make saponins and saponin- resistant sterols at the same time. Osbourn thinks it's a self-defense strategy You have to be able to not poison yourself if you can make these toxic compounds.
These unique evolutionary capabilities were dependent on one point. Sea cucumbers are part of the Echinoderm family. Sea urchins don't have the same defense powers as their ancestors. Osbourn and Thimmappa compared their genomes to those of the sea cucumbers to figure out how the sea cucumbers had changed. The researchers were interested in studying lanosterol synthase, which is important for sterol and saponin synthesis. Their precursor molecule is folded into shapes.
Sea cucumbers don't have it. One of them gives rise to the saponins found in juvenile sea cucumbers, the other creates their cholesterol alternative, and so on and so forth. An evolutionary adaptation that was simple, but very elegant, was created by changing the lanosterol synthase sequence in the amino acid chain.
The work of determining the functions of single chemical compounds in sea cucumbers is cool. Sea cucumbers that don't have adaptive immunity might benefit from the saponins. Many organisms leave them alone because they don't have a spiny outer shell. The people say they look so delicious. Most fish will stay out of the way.
The Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has a professor who explains why sea cucumbers havesaponins. Her comments have been translated from Chinese. She says that it's important to find and understand the two pathways that generate these saponins and special sterols. Sun wants to know how the genes associated with saponin are different in other echinoderms.
There is a compound that attacks cholesterol. Sea cucumbers are prized for their health benefits. Sea cucumbers are rich in saponins and are very valuable. They are revered for their anti- inflammatory health benefits and have been harvest as a delicacy. The saponin dosage in certain sea cucumbers can be beneficial for humans. Sea cucumber saponins have been shown to reduce cholesterol and inflammation in mice, and have been linked to anti-cancer activity.
Making soap is one use for saponins. saponins can be dissolved in water to make a frothy soup. Osbourn admires nature's ability to make chemicals.
She and her team are interested in learning how to synthesise more of these naturally derived compounds, to recreate them on a larger scale without having to harm any sea cucumbers. She believes that such molecule could be designed and made on demand to be used as medicines or emulsifiers.
One of the most likely places to find sea cucumbers and their compounds is in soup, something Osbourn was once served for lunch when he was in China. She says it was very hard. It was positive for me.
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