Abstract
Sea cucumbers are a class of marine invertebrates and a source of food and drug. Numerous microorganisms are associated with sea cucumbers. Seventy-eight genera of bacteria belonging to 47 families in four phyla, and 29 genera of fungi belonging to 24 families in the phylum Ascomycota have been cultured from sea cucumbers. Sea-cucumber-associated microorganisms produce diverse secondary metabolites with various biological activities, including cytotoxic, antimicrobial, enzyme-inhibiting, and antiangiogenic activities. In this review, we present the current list of the 145 natural products from microorganisms associated with sea cucumbers, which include primarily polyketides, as well as alkaloids and terpenoids. These results indicate the potential of the microorganisms associated with sea cucumbers as sources of bioactive natural products.
Highlights
Sea cucumbers are marine invertebrates that belong to the class Holothuroidea of the phylum Echinodermata
For the past 20 years, there has been an increasing effort made by researchers on diversity and bioactive compounds of microorganisms associated with sea cucumber
Because marine-derived fungi had shown potential to synthesize pharmaceutical compounds with bioactivities, researchers usually directly isolate fungi associated with sea cucumbers for the separation of active natural products [21,28,29], except one paper about the diversity and bioactivity of fungi associated with sea cucumbers [22]
Summary
Sea cucumbers are marine invertebrates that belong to the class Holothuroidea of the phylum Echinodermata. Sea cucumbers are found in benthic areas and the deep sea worldwide [3]. They play an important role in marine ecosystems and occupy a similar niche to earthworms in terrestrial ecosystems [4]. Since most microorganisms are unculturable under conventional laboratory conditions [7], this review primarily focuses on culturable sea-cucumber-associated microorganisms. Investigating sea-cucumber-associated microorganisms is essential for discovering new compounds with potential as novel active drugs. For the past 20 years, there has been an increasing effort made by researchers on diversity and bioactive compounds of microorganisms associated with sea cucumber. Mar. Drugs 2021, 19, 461 an increasing effort made by researchers on diversity and bioactive compounds of micro of 21 organisms associated with sea cucumber.
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