Marine Natural Products and Blue Biochemistry in the Omics Era: From Oceanic Molecules to Therapeutics

Marine ecosystems are among the most diverse and chemically rich environments on Earth, offering an extraordinary reservoir of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and industrial potential. Advances in blue biochemistry, coupled with modern omics technologies such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, have accelerated the discovery and characterization of marine natural products.

These innovations enable deeper insights into biosynthetic pathways, ecological roles, and molecular mechanisms of action. From antimicrobial and anticancer agents to enzyme inhibitors and biomaterials, marine-derived molecules are shaping the future of drug discovery and biotechnology. This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge research exploring the transition from ocean-derived molecules to therapeutic applications, highlighting interdisciplinary approaches that integrate chemistry, biology, and computational sciences in the era of systems biology.

We welcome submissions in the following sub-topics:

• Marine-derived compounds in drug discovery and development
• Blue biochemistry in aquaculture: sustainable production of marine-derived bioactive substances.
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning for prediction of marine bioactivity from omics datasets.
• Marine-derived small molecules in drug discovery and translational development.
• Biosynthetic pathways and bioengineering of marine secondary metabolites.
• Marine natural products: peptides, enzymes, and biocatalytic systems.
• Advanced sequencing technologies (e.g., nanopore sequencing) in marine metagenomics.
• Computational approaches and molecular docking of marine compounds.
• Bioactive marine secondary metabolites with antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer potential.
• Sustainable harvesting and marine bioprospecting strategies.
• Genome mining of marine microbes for novel biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs).
• Multi-omics integration for marine natural product (MNP) drug lead discovery and optimization.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Blue biochemistry, biotecBioprospecting discovery, Bioprospecting, Systems biology, Omics technologies, Metabolomics, Biosynthetic Gene Clusters.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.