Marine bioprospecting

Hitherto, the normal source of collections has been from terrestrial habitats. However, marine bioprospecting represents a vast untapped area that is likely to be intensified. Exhibit 11.1 describes the diversity and hfe forms in this habitat. 

Capon RJ (2001) Marine Bioprospecting - Trawling for Treasure and Pleasure. Eur J Org Chem 633... 

CAPON R J (2001), Marine bioprospecting - Trawling for treasure and pleasure , European J Org Chem, 633-645. 

Hill RT (2004) Microbes from Marine Sponges A Treasure Trove of Biodiversity for Natural Products Discovery. In Bull AT (ed) Microbial Diversity and Bioprospecting. AMS Press, Washington, p 177... 

However, these findings may reflect only a tiny fraction of the true therapeutic potential of marine actinomycetes. Recent culture-independent studies have shown that marine environments contain a high diversity of actinomycetes that are rarely, if ever, recovered by culture-dependent methods.8 Most of these unculturable actinomycetes have very different 16S rRNA sequences when compared with their terrestrial counterparts,6,9 and the ability to cultivate these novel actinomycetes will provide a new source for the discovery of novel drug leads. The future success of bioprospecting marine actinomycetes relies on our ability to isolate and grow novel actinomycetes from the marine environments. 

Farrier D, Tucker L. Access to marine bioresources hitching the conservation car to the bioprospecting horse. Ocean Dev Int Law 2001 32 213-239. 

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