Marine fungi: An untapped bioresource for future cosmeceuticals

Abstract

A number of useful metabolites with cosmeceutical potential have been reported from marine sources over the last several years. Marine life, particularly sponge, algae, tunicates, bacteria and fungi, produces a wide variety of bioactive metabolites whose diversity is enhanced by the varied environmental conditions present in the oceans. The marine environment has a large biological and chemical diversity and serves as a source of novel chemical entities with potential industrial application, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and agrochemicals. Marine fungi represent a relatively untapped bioresource for novel natural product discovery, although over the past decade marine fungi have providing a number of new secondary metabolites. These secondary metabolites isolated from marine fungi have been used in a range of applications, including cosmeceutical application such as anti-ageing, skin-whitening and anti-acne. In addition, a number of lead compounds have been identified from marine fungi for further development as cosmeceuticals. This review article aims to summarize studies on marine fungal secondary metabolites for application in skin health and cosmeceuticals.