Abstract
Polar marine biota have adapted to thrive under one of the ocean’s most inhospitable scenarios, where extremes of temperature, light photoperiod and ice disturbance, along with ecological interactions, have selected species with a unique suite of secondary metabolites. Organisms of Arctic and Antarctic oceans are prolific sources of natural products, exhibiting wide structural diversity and remarkable bioactivities for human applications. Chemical skeletons belonging to terpene families are the most commonly found compounds, whereas cytotoxic antimicrobial properties, the capacity to prevent infections, are the most widely reported activities from these environments. This review firstly summarizes the regulations on access and benefit sharing requirements for research in polar environments. Then it provides an overview of the natural product arsenal from Antarctic and Arctic marine organisms that displays promising uses for fighting human disease. Microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, and macroorganisms, such as sponges, macroalgae, ascidians, corals, bryozoans, echinoderms and mollusks, are the main focus of this review. The biological origin, the structure of terpenes and terpenoids, derivatives and their biotechnological potential are described. This survey aims to highlight the chemical diversity of marine polar life and the versatility of this group of biomolecules, in an effort to encourage further research in drug discovery.
Highlights
We first expose the framework regarding the regulations that govern access and benefit sharing requirements in polar environments, and secondly, we report bioactive compounds isolated from marine bacteria, fungi and macroorganisms inhabiting Arctic and Antarctic environments
Among all marine natural products coming from the polar seas, we will focus in this review on terpenoids and their derivatives, because they represent one of the most important classes of bioactive molecules commonly found in polar organisms
Sesterterpenes are the longest of the terpenes to be formed in this fashion, as subsequently longer terpenes with 30+ carbons are formed by additional condensation of two preformed phosphorylated environment compared to diterpenes or triterpenes, sponges of the Suberites genus collected at several spots around Antarctica including King George Island and McMurdo Sound have yielded the polycyclic suberitenones A and B (77, 78) (Figure 16), the latter of which has been shown to inhibit the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP)
Summary
Marine natural products have attracted growing commercial interest from the biotech sector, supporting a rich marine biodiscovery pipeline [18]. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) [19] defines bioprospecting as the exploration and development of knowledge of genetic and biochemical resources for commercial purposes. Bioprospecting is a rapidly accelerating activity in Antarctica with new players such as Malaysia with strong commercial interests in Antarctic organisms [31,32]. Bioprospecting was first discussed within the ATS in 1999 Since it has received regular attention at meetings of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) [33], Committee for Environmental. Companies from North America, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom are actively developing new biotechnologies based on genetic resources found in the Arctic [35]. In March 2007, the Research Council of Norway launched MabCent-SFI, a marine bioprospecting project to discover and develop high-value, marine-based products for antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory products, antioxidants and diabetes medicine, as well as novel cold-adapted enzymes
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