Publications

natural products; marine sponge; sesterterpenoid; steroid; colorectal cancer; Wnt; β-catenin; Alaska

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is known to play critical roles in a wide range of cellular processes: cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and embryonic development. Importantly, dysregulation of this pathway is tightly associated with pathogenesis in most human cancers. Therefore, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has emerged as a promising target in anticancer drug screening programs. In the present study, we have isolated three previously unreported metabolites from an undescribed sponge, a species of Monanchora (Order Poecilosclerida, Family Crambidae), closely related to the northeastern Pacific species Monanchora pulchra, collected from deep waters off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

*Journal subscription required to access

An unusual new species of plexaurid octocoral, Alaskagorgia splendicitrina, is described from a specimen collected in the far west Aleutian Island Archipelago, Alaska, USA.

Primnoa pacifica is a cold-water coral prevalent throughout Alaskan waters, while another species in the genus, Primnoa resedaeformis, is widely distributed in the Atlantic Ocean. This study examined the V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene after amplifying and pyrosequencing bacterial DNA from samples of these species.

This publication is the eighth consecutive supplement on ocean exploration to accompany Oceanography. These booklets provide details about the innovative technologies deployed to investigate the seafloor and water column and explain how telepresence can both convey the excitement of ocean exploration to global audiences and allow scientists as well as the public on shore to participate in expeditions in real time. 

benthic animals; multibeam mapping; oceanography; research

The objectives of the expedition were to survey, sample, and map deep-sea coral ecosystems in
the eastern Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Bight between ~200⁠–1000 m depths, focusing on
priority areas identified by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and the
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

This report describes the 2016 and 2017 research activities partially or fully funded by the Program to meet NOAA’s mandate to identify, study, and monitor deep-sea coral areas.

ancestral state reconstruction; character evolution; classification; Hexactinellida; integrative systematics; phylogeny; Porifera; total evidence

Glass sponges (Class Hexactinellida) are important components of deep-sea ecosystems and are of interest from geological and materials science perspectives. However, inconsistencies remain that have far-reaching implications for hypotheses about the evolution of their major skeletal construction types (body plans). Here, we increase the taxon sampling of four previously established molecular markers (18S, 28S, and 16S ribosomal DNA, as well as cytochrome oxidase subunit I) by 12 genera, for the first time including representatives of the order Aulocalycoida and the type genus of Dactylocalycidae, taxa that are key to understanding hexactinellid body plan evolution.

The Mountains in the Deep Expedition (EX1705), conducted from April 27, 2017, to May 19, 2017, onboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, collected valuable new information to support management and science needs throughout the Central Pacific Basin. Operations were conducted in American Samoa and the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa, the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana marine park, and in the Jarvis Island and Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef Units of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM as part of the Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE).

A new species of Crypthelia, C. kelleyi, is described from a seamount in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, making it the fifth species of stylasterid known from the Hawaiian Islands. Collected at 2,116 m, it is the fourth-deepest stylasterid species known.

NOAA and its partners initiated CAPSTONE expeditions aboard Okeanos Explorer in July 2015. In addition to providing valuable information on the habitats and species in these MPAs, CAPSTONE also aims to contribute publicly accessible baseline data and critical information needed to respond to emerging regional issues such as deep-sea mining, sustainable deep-sea fisheries, and potential US ECS designation.