Suchergebnisse

Marine biodiversity is expressed through the huge variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species inhabiting intertidal to deep-sea environments. The extraordinary variety of â forms and functionsâ  exhibited by marine animals suggests they are a promising source of bioactive molecules and provides potential inspiration for different biomimetic approaches. This diversity is familiar to biologists and has led to intensive investigation of metabolites, polysaccharides, and other compounds. However, marine collagens are less well-known. This review will provide detailed insight into the diversity of collagens present in marine species in terms of their genetics, structure, properties, and physiology. In the last part of the review the focus will be on the most common marine collagen sources and on the latest advances in the development of innovative materials exploiting, or inspired by, marine collagens. ; The authors are grateful for the financial support from European Union, under the scope of European Regional Development Fund((ERDF) through the POCTEP project 0687_NOVOMAR_1_P and Structured Project NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000021 and from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the BiogenInk project (M-ERA-NET2/0022/2016) and from the European Cooperation in Science & Technology program (EU COST). Grant title: "Stem cells of marine/aquatic inverte brates: from basic research to innovative applications" (MARISTEM). MSR acknowledges FCT for the Ph.D. scholarship ...