Abstract
Natural products play an important role in drug development, among which marine natural products are an underexplored resource. This review summarizes recent developments in marine natural product research, with an emphasis on compound discovery and production methods. Traditionally, novel compounds with useful biological activities have been identified through the chromatographic separation of crude extracts. New genome sequencing and bioinformatics technologies have enabled the identification of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters in marine microbes that are difficult to culture. Subsequently, heterologous expression and combinatorial biosynthesis have been used to produce natural products and their analogs. This review examines recent examples of such new strategies and technologies for the development of marine natural products.
Highlights
Natural products (NPs) are secondary metabolites produced by living organisms.These compounds are often used as drugs, their natural functions are usually not known
Based on the conservative estimate by the investigators involved in the International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM), there are at least 20 million types of microbes in the sea, with an abundance of up to 1030 [116]
The number of marine microbes that have been identified and studied is very limited, and the number that has been used in pharmaceutical applications is even less
Summary
Natural products (NPs) are secondary metabolites produced by living organisms These compounds are often used as drugs, their natural functions are usually not known. There are a number of earlier reviews that have covered studies on MNPs. For instance, a review from 2011 described in depth the use of marine bacteria and fungi as crucial sources of MNPs and the methods and approaches available for exploring those marine microorganisms, including genomic and metagenomic techniques that are geared toward sustainably exploiting their potential for bio-mining new MNPs [16]. Another review from 2021 highlighted the biosynthetic studies of MNPs from different compound classes and detailed analyses of their BGCs and biosynthetic pathways [6] To complement these reviews, our review aims to cover a broader range of marine microorganisms and focuses on practical strategies and technologies for solving the problems that may hamper research into MNPs
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