Herein we describe the isolation of homarine and piridiniumbetaine B from the sponge Aaptos sp. Although homarine has a common occurrence among animals, piridiniumbetaine B was only recently isolated from the marine sponge Agelas dispar. The isolation of piridiniumbetaine B from two taxonomically distant marine sponges corroborate previous assumptions that such betaines should be regarded rather as primary metabolites. We have also isolated (9-[5'-(methylthio)-beta-D-xylofuranosyl]adenine (xylosyl-MTA) from the mantle of a nudibranch identified as Doris aff. verrucosa. The occurrence of xylosyl-MTA in the mantle of this animal strongly suggests that it is the same nudibranch species described for the Mediterranean sea. We have been unable to detect any other compound in the mantle extract of D. aff. verrucosa other than xylosil-MTA and sterols. GC-MS analysis of the sterol fraction from the nudibranch and its prey, the sponge Hymeniacidon aff. heliophila, revealed the occurrence of the ubiquitous sterols, cholesterol, brassicasterol, cholestanol, 24-methylcholesterol and 24-ethylcholesterol, as the only common metabolites, therefore precluding any assumption concerning the sequestration of secondary metabolites by the nudibranch from H. aff. heliophila.
sponge; nudibranch; marine natural products
