the sea squirt, a marine animal that looks like grapes, is being cultured to provide treatment for cancer. It contains ecteinascidin-743, the compound being tested as an anticancer agent. Besides other aquatic regions, the sea squirt is also found in the Indian Ocean. Its population is too small to meet the probable worldwide demand for the new drug, researchers believe. The compound the squirts produce has now been synthesised. But it is not yet viable to produce the substance synthetically.

Dominick Mendola, a scientist culturing the sea squirt at Calbiomarine Technologies Inc of California, usa, says, "This species lives on mangrove roots in its natural habitat. So we take ropes and turn them into