Biomedical Compounds from Marine organisms

Abstract

Abstract:The Ocean, which is called the 'mother of origin of life', is also the source of structurally unique natural products that are mainly accumulated in living organisms. Several of these compounds show pharmacological activities and are helpful for the invention and discovery of bioactive compounds, primarily for deadly diseases like cancer, acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS), arthritis, etc., while other compounds have been developed as analgesics or to treat inflammation, etc. The lifesaving drugs are mainly found abundantly in microorganisms, algae and invertebrates, while they are scarce in vertebrates. Modern technologies have opened vast areas of research for the extraction of biomedical compounds from oceans and seas.

Marine Bacteria and Fungi as Sources for Bioactive Compounds: Present Status and Future Trends.

“…Surviving in the marine environment is challengeable as bacteria and fungi have to undergo tremendous physical and chemical pressure, thus exhibit various types of adaptations in their anatomy and physiology (Jha and Zi-rong, 2004). From an ecological point of view bacterial and fungal secondary metabolites may probably act specifically in interspecies interactions to protect the host and/or the producer against competitors and/or diseases.…”

“…Due to the fact that these organisms live in a biologically competitive environment with unique conditions of pH, temperature, pressure, oxygen, light, nutrients and salinity, there is a high potential for those to produce metabolites exhibit special biological activities compared with terrestrial counterparts. As bacteria and fungi have rapid growth, reproduction and ability to live in ubiquitous habitats, they are considered as the most prominent members of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.Surviving in the marine environment is challengeable as bacteria and fungi have to undergo tremendous physical and chemical pressure, thus exhibit various types of adaptations in their anatomy and physiology (Jha and Zi-rong, 2004). From an ecological point of view bacterial and fungal secondary metabolites may probably act specifically in interspecies interactions to protect the host and/or the producer against competitors and/or diseases.…”

Analytical characterization and structure elucidation of metabolites from Aspergillus ochraceus MP2 fungi

“…The origins of these biologically active substances are recently thought to be the metabolites produced by the microorganisms associated with the sponges. And studies have also suggested that some bioactive compounds isolated from marine organisms have been shown to exhibit anticancer, anti-microbial, anti-fungal or anti-inflammatory and other pharmacological activities [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . These marine invertebrates have evolved chemical defense mechanicsms against other invading organisms, which involve the production of secondary metabolites [10] .…”

Cytotoxic lipidic α-amino acids from the zoanthid Protopalythoa variabilis from the Northeastern coast of Brazil

“…6 Despite the interest of the chemical community due to the complexity of palytoxin molecule, it is a useful tool for probing cellular processes involving sodium as a second messenger, since it binds in Na + , K + -ATPase and transforms the pump into a channel permeable to monovalent cations. 7,8 Moreover, new steroids 9,10 and zoanthamine alkaloids, some of them with potent biological activity, [11][12][13][14][15] were also isolated from species of the Zoanthidae family. Herein, in the continuing search to discover anticancer agents from marine sources [16][17][18][19] we have investigated the zoanthid Protopalythoa variabilis Duerden 1898, an abundant cnidarian at the coast of Ceará State, northeast of Brazil.…”