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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Marine biodiversity as source of new drugs

subject

description

Life in the oceans has an extraordinary biodiversity, including most of plant and animal taxa. Ecological pressures, including competition for space, the fouling of the surface, predation, and successful reproduction have led to the evolution of secondary metabolites and proteins with various biological activities (Cammarata et al. 2011; Maisano et al. 2013). Therefore, marine biodiversity is an exceptional reservoir of natural products, with different structural features from those of terrestrial natural products (Ireland et al. 1988). Only less than 1% of the natural products isolated from marine organisms have been examined for pharmacological activities (Fusetani 2000). These molecules are important for their potential applications as medical drugs. The majority of bioactive (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic or antifouling) molecules have been isolated from benthic animals such as sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans, molluscs, polychaetes, echinoderms, and ascidians. These chemical compounds serve as a form of defense against predators, competitors, and invading microorganisms and parasites. The study of marine organisms for their bioactive