Senior Researcher
Marine Biotechnology Department

Tel. +39 081 5833430
Fax: +39 081 7641355
e-mail: giovanna.romano(at)szn.it
Skype: giovanna.romano59

Curriculum Vitae

Research interests

Research interest: Chemical Ecology and Marine Biotechnology.
Microalgae are a key component of marine phytoplankton and support the cycle of secondary production that in turn sustains the growth of fish larvae. Recently we  discovered that diatoms, one of the major microalgal group, produce secondary metabolites which induce egg viability reduction and teratogenesis in their principal copepod grazers. Beside their ecological role as defence against grazers, secondary metabolites may have other bioactivity and can be explored for possible biotechnological and pharmacological applications.
Principal aims of my research studies are:

• Clarify chemically mediated interactions between phytoplankton and their grazers.
• Study the molecular mechanism underlying the effects of diatom-derived oxylipins on developmental processes, using the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus embryos as in vivo model system.
• Identify factors affecting the production of these bioactive secondary metabolites.
• Discover potential biotechnological applications of lipoxygenase and other enzymes involved in diatom oxylipin pathways.
• Discover potential biotechnological applications of microalgal secondary metabolites.

Selected Publications

Di Dato V, Barbarinaldi R, Amato A, Di Costanzo F, Fontanarosa C, Perna A, Amoresano A, Esposito F, Cutignano A, Ianora A and Romano G (2020) Variation in prostaglandin metabolism during growth of the diatom Thalassiosira rotula. Scientific Reports, 10, 5374. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61967-3

Di Dato, V., Di Costanzo, F., Barbarinaldi, R., Perna, A., Ianora, A., Romano, G., 2019. Unveiling the presence of biosynthetic pathways for bioactive compounds in the Thalassiosira rotula transcriptome. Sci Rep 9, 9893. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46276-8

Galasso, C., D’Aniello, S., Sansone, C., Ianora, A., Romano, G., 2019. Identification of Cell Death Genes in Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus and Their Expression Patterns during Embryonic Development. Genome Biol Evol 11, 586–596. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz020

Miceli, M., Cutignano, A., Conte, M., Ummarino, R., Romanelli, A., Ruvo, M., Leone, M., Mercurio, F.A., Doti, N., Manzo, E., Romano, G*., Altucci, L., Ianora, A., 2019. Monoacylglycerides from the Diatom Skeletonema marinoi Induce Selective Cell Death in Cancer Cells. Marine Drugs 17, 625. https://doi.org/10.3390/md17110625

Brillatz, T., Lauritano, C., Jacmin, M., Khamma, S., Marcourt, L., Righi, D., Romano, G., Esposito, F., Ianora, A., Queiroz, E.F., Wolfender, J.-L., Crawford, A.D., 2018. Zebrafish-based identification of the antiseizure nucleoside inosine from the marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi. PLoS One 13, e0196195. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196195

Lauritano, C., Martín, J., Cruz, M. de la, Reyes, F., Romano, G., Ianora, A., 2018. First identification of marine diatoms with anti-tuberculosis activity. Scientific Reports 8, 2284. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20611-x

Sannino, F., Sansone, C., Galasso, C., Kildgaard, S., Tedesco, P., Fani, R., Marino, G., Pascale, D. de, Ianora, A., Parrilli, E., Larsen, T.O., Romano, G*., Tutino, M.L., 2018. Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 produces 4-hydroxybenzoic acid that induces pyroptosis in human A459 lung adenocarcinoma cells. Scientific Reports 8, 1190. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19536-2

Sansone, C., Nuzzo, G., Galasso, C., Casotti, R., Fontana, A., Romano, G., Ianora, A., 2018. The Marine Dinoflagellate Alexandrium andersoni Induces Cell Death in Lung and Colorectal Tumor Cell Lines. Mar Biotechnol 20, 343–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-018-9817-5

Torres-Águila, N.P., Martí-Solans, J., Ferrández-Roldán, A., Almazán, A., Roncalli, V., D’Aniello, S., Romano, G., Palumbo, A., Albalat, R., Cañestro, C., 2018. Diatom bloom-derived biotoxins cause aberrant development and gene expression in the appendicularian chordate Oikopleura dioica. Communications Biology 1, 121. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-018-0127-2

Di Dato, V., Orefice, I., Amato, A., Fontanarosa, C., Amoresano, A., Cutignano, A., Ianora, A., Romano, G., 2017. Animal-like prostaglandins in marine microalgae. The ISME Journal 11, 1722–1726. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2017.27