Meroditerpene from Cystoseira nodicaulis and its taxonomic significance Camille Jégou a, * , Gérald Culioli b , Valérie Stiger-Pouvreau a a Laboratory of Sciences of Marine Environment (LEMAR UMR 6539), European Institute of Marine Studies, University of Western Brittany, Rue Dumont d’Urville, 29280 Plouzané, France b Laboratoire des Matériaux – Polymères – Interfaces – Environnement Marin (MAPIEM EA 4323), Université du Sud Toulon-Var, Avenue de l’université, BP 20132, 83957 La Garde Cedex, France article info Article history: Received 14 October 2011 Accepted 12 May 2012 Available online Keywords: Cystoseira nodicaulis Sargassaceae Meroditerpene Chemotaxonomy abstract The first investigations carried out on the lipophilic content of samples of the brown alga, Cystoseira nodicaulis, collected along the Atlantic coasts of France led to the isolation of a single monocyclic meroditerpene previously identified in Cystoseira elegans. This finding supplements the chemical data available about the Sargassaceae family and opens the way to further discussions about taxonomy through comparisons with phylogenetic studies. Cyclized meroditerpenes are a typical feature of the clade that includes C. nodicaulis and its allied species C. elegans and Cystoseira baccata. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Subject and source Within the Phaeophyceae (brown algae), Cystoseira as well as Sargassum are both among the species-richest genera of the Sargassaceae family. The former is distributed worldwide in subtropical and tropical waters; however, most of the known taxa are settled in the Mediterranean Sea, and to a lesser extent, along the European coasts of the Atlantic Ocean (Guiry and Guiry, 2012). Cystoseira nodicaulis (Whitering) M. Roberts is a typical species of the Atlantic Ocean settled from the British Isles down to Senegal. To our knowledge no investigation has been focused on its lipophilic composition. Further to the unambiguous identification of C. nodicaulis made according to the recommendations by Roberts (1977) and Cabioc’h et al. (2006), samples were collected at Penmarc’h (Brittany, France) [47  48 0 N, 4  22 0 W] in April 2009 given the presence of tophules (swellings) on the main axis of the thallus. In Brittany, such a morphological feature is present only on C. nodicaulis specimens (Cabioc’h et al., 2006). A voucher specimen has been deposited under the reference Number: CJ-CN-02 within the Laboratory of Sciences of Marine Environment at the European Institute for Marine Studies (Plouzané, France). 2. Previous work The chemistry of Cystoseira genus has been intensively studied, but these investigations have been especially focused on Mediterranean species (Amico, 1995; Valls and Piovetti, 1995; Pellegrini et al., 1997). To our knowledge, no phytochemical data about lipophilic compounds isolated from C. nodicaulis are available in the literature. However, evidences of the biosynthesis of bicyclic meroditerpenoids by specimens of Cystoseira baccata, a sister species of C. nodicaulis (Rousseau and De Reviers, 1999; Silberfeld et al., 2010; Jégou et al., 2010), which had been sampled in different geographical sites, have been reported (Basabe et al., 1992; Valls et al., 1993; Mokrini et al., 2008). Other studies have dealt with the terpene compositions of * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ33 2 98 49 86 68. E-mail addresses: camille.jegou@univ-brest.fr , c.jegou@gmail.com (C. Jégou). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Biochemical Systematics and Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biochemsyseco 0305-1978/$ – see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bse.2012.05.003 Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 44 (2012) 202–204