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

Abstract

Marine organisms undergo a vast range of chemical and physical conditions in the marine environment, thus a high diversity is reported in the bioactive compounds they produce. With the development of marine biotechnology, a considerable number of researches are focused on marine bacteria and fungi-derived bioactive compounds. As a result, marine bacteria and fungi are ranked on the top of the hierarchy of all organisms, as they are responsible for producing a wide range of bioactive secondary metabolites with potential pharmaceutical applications. Thus, they have the potential to provide future drugs against important diseases, such as cancer, a range of viral diseases, malaria, and inflammations. This review aims at describing some of the most highly cited reviews of the last decade on marine bacteria and fungi -derived bioactive compounds and the most promising substances extracted and isolated from these for pharmaceutical applications. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-Bacteria and fungi have a major impact on the development of medical science since the discovery that they not only are the cause of infection but also produce organic compounds that can both cure infections and help treat a variety of non infectious diseases. With the rapid development of marine biotechnology in the past few decades, marine bacteria and fungi are considered as promising agents for the discovery of bioactive natural chemical substances with respect to the diversity of their primary and secondary metabolites. 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. Further, these metabolites may play an important role in the marine habitats as they provide information on ecology of marine communities.

Antibacterial activities of bacteria associated with marine sponges of Axinella sp. on Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii (CRAB)

“…has the potential to provide future drugs against sicknesses such as cancer, malaria, and inflammation 32 . Thus, bacteria with metabolites and bioactive compounds can perform as antibacterial agents.…”