Didemnum fragile

Didemnum fragile is a species of sea squirt in the family Didemnidae.

Didemnum fragile
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Tunicata
Class:	Ascidiacea
Order:	Aplousobranchia
Family:	Didemnidae
Genus:	Didemnum
Species:	D. fragile
Binomial name
Didemnum fragile Sluiter, 1909
Synonyms
Didemnum fragilis Sluiter, 1909 Didemnum proliferum Kott, 1981

Research

Didemnum fragile is of medical interest as it contains shishijimicin molecules, which have been seen to have potent anti-tumor activity in HeLa cells at picomolar concentrations.^[1] Shishijimicin A was recently synthesized.^[2]