The latrunculins are a family of natural products and toxins produced by certain sponges, including genus Latrunculia and Negombata, whence the name is derived.

Administered in vivo, this effect results in disruption of the actin filaments of the cytoskeleton, and allows visualization of the corresponding changes made to the cellular processes.

[1] Latrunculin has been used to great effect in the discovery of cadherin distribution regulation and has potential medical applications.

[2] Latrunculin A, a type of the toxin, was found to be able to make reversible morphological changes to mammalian cells by disrupting the actin network.

[8] Experimental evidence shows that latruculin-A is biologically active in the solvent DMSO, but not in aqueous solutions, as demonstrated in cell culture and in brain tissue[9] probably due to cellular permeation.

[14] After latrunculin B exposure, mouse fibroblasts grow bigger and PtK2 kidney cells from a potoroo stem produced long, branched extensions.

[16] The osh proteins are homologous to OSBP generated enzymes that appear in mammals, indicating that these might play a role in the toxicokinetics of latrunculins.

[17] Adding latrunculin B to solutions of pollen F-actin produced a rapid decrease in the total amount of polymer, the extent of depolymerization increasing with the concentrations of the toxic.

[17] Squeezing Latrunculia magnifica into aquarium with fishes causes their almost immediate agitation, followed by hemorrhage, loss of balance and death in 4–6 minutes.

This is associated with trabecular meshwork porous expansion without evidence of reduced structural extracellular matrix protein expression or cellular viability.

[2] Like many other sessile organisms, sponges are rich of secondary metabolites with toxic properties and most of them, including Latrunculin, have a defense role against predators, competitors and epibionts.

[23] After production in the choanocytes, the latrunculin is transferred via the archeocytes to the vulnerable areas of the sponges where defense is needed, such as injured or regenerating sites.

[23] Sea slugs of the genus Chromodoris sequester different toxics from the sponges that they eat as defensive metabolites, including latrunculin.

[22] In 2015, the discovery that five closely related sea slugs of the genus Chromodoris all use latrunculin as defense, indicates that the toxic might be used via Müllerian mimicry.