Antibiotics from Deep-Sea Microorganisms: Current Discoveries and Perspectives

Abstract

The increasing emergence of new forms of multidrug resistance among human pathogenic bacteria, coupled with the consequent increase of infectious diseases, urgently requires the discovery and development of novel antimicrobial drugs with new modes of action. Most of the antibiotics currently available on the market were obtained from terrestrial organisms or derived semisynthetically from fermentation products. The isolation of microorganisms from previously unexplored habitats may lead to the discovery of lead structures with antibiotic activity. The deep-sea environment is a unique habitat, and deep-sea microorganisms, because of their adaptation to this extreme environment, have the potential to produce novel secondary metabolites with potent biological activities. This review covers novel antibiotics isolated from deep-sea microorganisms. The chemical classes of the compounds, their bioactivities, and the sources of organisms are outlined. Furthermore, the authors report recent advances in techniques and strategies for the exploitation of deep-sea microorganisms.

The Bristol Sponge Microbiome Collection: A Unique Repository of Deep-Sea Microorganisms and Associated Natural Products

“…16S rRNA gene sequencing and subsequent BLAST analyses were completed for 28 isolates from B01641 (51%), 27 isolates from B01661 (37%), 47 isolates from B0789 (34%) and 149 isolates from B0078 (82%). Bacteria identified from the genera Staphylococcus (52) and Cutibacterium (9), along with the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6) and Escherichia fergusonii (5), were excluded from the analysis due to the high likelihood that they represent contamination rather than authentic marine bacteria.…”

“…The strains used in the ISP2 screen (Section 2.4.1) were screened in parallel with the well-defined M9 media. This allowed variation of the carbon source; different carbon sources can inhibit or stimulate the metabolic pathways that might lead to bioactive secondary metabolites [7,9].…”

“…One solution to the problem of rediscovery is to employ a sampling approach that targets previously unexplored environmental niches. By focusing on such environments, the risk of compound rediscovery is significantly reduced [8,9]. Marine ecosystems have long been viewed as an attractive source of novel microorganisms and associated natural products [10].…”

Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins as Untapped Reservoir of Polyextremophilic Prokaryotes of Biotechnological Interest

“…Generally, marine microorganisms represent an untapped source for the discovery and development of new biomolecules due to their rich biodiversity and genetic capacity to produce unique metabolites [73][74][75]. In this regard, it is well documented that many taxonomically novel marine species are promising sources of new bioactive compounds with noteworthy pharmaceutical activities, which can become sources of novel therapeutic agents [52,76].…”

New Polyketides from the Marine-Derived Fungus Letendraea Sp. 5XNZ4-2

“…Metabolites from marine-derived microorganisms have become important pharmacological resources [1,2]. At least 2000 novel natural products have been identified in the past five years, nearly 50% of which were derived from marine-derived fungi [3][4][5].…”