Vestnik of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The paper studies the development of basil plants (Ocimum basilicum L.) depending on the composition of the soil mixture when grown using LED radiation in closed conditions. The effect of combinations of Crystalon and Zion fertilizers with sand on plants was studied. It was shown that the use of the complex Crystalon fertilizer leads to the highest values of morphometric parameters of basil plants. The plants grown with its help had values of the mass of the above-ground part of the plants 45 times greater than the control. The use of Zion fertilizer led to an increase in this parameter relative to the control by 11 times. The addition of sand to the mixture contributed to a decrease in the mass of the above-ground part of basil plants grown in a soil mixture with Crystalon by 15%, Zion 37%, and in a soil mixture without additives by 7%. The use of Crystalon fertilizer made it possible to grow basil plants with an above-ground mass of 14 g on the 35th day, which is comparable to the results obtained using soilless methods. This result shows the potential of using Crystalon fertilizer for growing this crop in the soil in a short time, while maintaining all the advantages of this method.

Intensive agricultural activity leads to pollution and cyanobacterial blooms of freshwater areas, which threatens not only human health, but also the flora and fauna of the aquatic environment. The paper examines the results of studies of the impact of electromagnetic radiation of various wavelengths on the development of Chlorella vulgaris.For this purpose, a grown suspension of Chlorella vulgarisin a nutrient solution was irradiated using EMR of various wavelength ranges: in ultraviolet (UV) with a wavelength of 220 nm and 253 nm, in green (Gr) with a wavelength of 520 nm, in red (R) with a radiation range of 625 nm and in infrared (IR) in the range of 1200–1400 nm. As a result of the experiments, it was found that exposure to UV radiation in both wavelength ranges of 220 nm and 253 nm, as well as under the influence of Gr at a wavelength of 520 nm, did not lead to a change in the concentration of chlorella cells in the tested samples, compared with control samples within 6 days of measurements after irradiation. At the same time, in samples irradiated with R and IR, respectively, at wavelengths of 625 and 1200–1400 nm, an approximately twofold increase in the concentration of chlorella cells in the suspension was observed, compared with the control sample. The authors consider the most promising to be the use of the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum when influencing chlorella in order to activate its growth. Meanwhile, when selecting a wavelength in the IR range, it is recommended to take into account the optical transparency windows of the atmosphere above water bodies.

Polar steroid compounds, sphingolipids, and triterpene glycosides of some species of tropical and Far Eastern starfish were studied. Their chemical structures, biological activity, and hypothetical pathways of biosynthesis have been established. Many of the isolated compounds have a unique chemical structure and contain unusual structural fragments.

Sea sponges are among the richest sources of biologically active compounds. Among them, terpenoids, alkaloids, polyketides, peptides, steroids, amino acids and other classes of compounds were found. They exhibit a wide range of biological activities such as cytotoxic, antitumor, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory and antimalarial. This review covers the structures and biological activities of secondary metabolites isolated from marine sponges in the Laboratory of the Chemistry of Marine Natural Compounds of the Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and published in 2019–2023.

Interest in marine organisms is due to the high content of biologically active substances in them, which are objects of fundamental and applied biomedical research and are effective in the development of therapeutic and prophylactic agents against a wide range of diseases. The laboratory of chemistry of non-infectious immunity of PIBOC FEB RAS conducts research on the screening, isolation, structure determination, study of physicochemical properties and biological activity of lectins from marine invertebrates. Lectins of different carbohydrate specificity have been isolated from bivalve mollusks, the physiological role of which is to participate in the innate immunity of mollusks. These proteins have different biological activity, including antibacterial and antiproliferative.