Nearly half of the newly developed drugs today are derived from natural products or their derivatives, and they are considered to be an important source of small molecule drugs. However, repeated separation has become a challenge in natural product research. Almost 70% of the isolated compounds are duplicates of known compounds, which is a large waste of time and material/energy. In order to reduce the chances of repeated separation, samples from special living environments have been used to discover novel compounds with significant bioactivity.
Marine organisms are rich resources for the production of novel bioactive natural products. At present, the number of natural products obtained from the ocean has reached 35,000 and more than 1000 secondary metabolites are discovered in the ocean each year. The special structures and biological activities of marine natural products make them a new source of lead compounds in the development of new drugs. In the last five years, more than half of the new marine natural products have been derived from microorganisms, indicating their enormous potential to produce new drug lead compounds.
The research topic focuses on the discovery, identification, and application of novel bioactive natural products from marine microorganisms, including the uncovering of new structures and activities, as well as medicinal potential of these natural compounds. It calls for original and novel papers, which include but are not limited to the following research topics:
• Novel natural products isolated from marine microorganisms. The occurrence, structural diversity, biological activities, and their molecular targets.
• The discovery of significant bioactive compounds isolated from marine microorganisms. (e.g. Compounds with strong activities, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, and enzyme-inhibited activities).
• Bioactive mechanisms or structure-activity relationships of the active compounds derived from marine microorganisms in order to promote the identification of novel candidates for drug development.
• Metabolomics or genomics analysis for the discovery of new bioactive compounds produced by marine microorganisms.
• The medicinal potential of marine microbial natural products. (e.g. the advantage of the researched compounds compared to the drugs in the clinic).
Nearly half of the newly developed drugs today are derived from natural products or their derivatives, and they are considered to be an important source of small molecule drugs. However, repeated separation has become a challenge in natural product research. Almost 70% of the isolated compounds are duplicates of known compounds, which is a large waste of time and material/energy. In order to reduce the chances of repeated separation, samples from special living environments have been used to discover novel compounds with significant bioactivity.
Marine organisms are rich resources for the production of novel bioactive natural products. At present, the number of natural products obtained from the ocean has reached 35,000 and more than 1000 secondary metabolites are discovered in the ocean each year. The special structures and biological activities of marine natural products make them a new source of lead compounds in the development of new drugs. In the last five years, more than half of the new marine natural products have been derived from microorganisms, indicating their enormous potential to produce new drug lead compounds.
The research topic focuses on the discovery, identification, and application of novel bioactive natural products from marine microorganisms, including the uncovering of new structures and activities, as well as medicinal potential of these natural compounds. It calls for original and novel papers, which include but are not limited to the following research topics:
• Novel natural products isolated from marine microorganisms. The occurrence, structural diversity, biological activities, and their molecular targets.
• The discovery of significant bioactive compounds isolated from marine microorganisms. (e.g. Compounds with strong activities, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, and enzyme-inhibited activities).
• Bioactive mechanisms or structure-activity relationships of the active compounds derived from marine microorganisms in order to promote the identification of novel candidates for drug development.
• Metabolomics or genomics analysis for the discovery of new bioactive compounds produced by marine microorganisms.
• The medicinal potential of marine microbial natural products. (e.g. the advantage of the researched compounds compared to the drugs in the clinic).