Marine organisms, as a source

MARINE ORGANISMS AS A SOURCE OF NOVEL LEAD STRUCTURES FOR DRUG DEVELOPMENT... 

Bernan, V. S., Greenstein, M., and Carter, G. T. (2004). Mining marine organisms as a source of new antimicrobials and antifungals. Curr. Med. Chem. - Anti-Infective Agents. 3,181-195. 

Although the successes of natural product chemistry after World War 11 are impressively reflected in particular in the development of the antibiotics, medical-pharmaceutical research has been directed at marine organisms as a source of interesting secondary metabolites only since about 1970. The structural diversity of these compounds is equal to that of the metabolites of the terrestrial streptomycetes. Up to 1999, about 16000 m. n. p. have been described. 120 of them made it into drug development, which is a high success rate. The rapidly increasing number of publications and patents on the subject, especially since 1980, illustrates the ever-increasing importance of this field in medical research. 

Jaspars, M. (1998) Pharmacy of the deep -marine organisms as a source of anticancer agents. In Advances in Drug Discovery Techniques (Harvey, A., ed.), p. 77, Wiley, Chichester... 

People have long used marine organisms as the source of a limited number of synthetic products used in everyday life. Perhaps the most famous of these organisms has been the mollusk Murex bran-dans, from which a beautiful purple dye can he extracted. The dye is obtained from a small organ of the mollusk (the hypobranchial gland), and its preparation is so expensive that it was traditionally used as a dye only for clothing worn by the nobility. For that reason, the dye was called royal purple or, more commonly, Tyrian purple, after the region from which it is obtained. 

The potential of the marine environment as a source of novel drugs has already been discussed. The NCI contract collection program has been expanded to the waters off East and Southern Africa, and expansion to under-explored regions, such as the Red Sea is being considered. These collections are performed in close collaboration with organizations based in the countries controlling the relevant waters. 

Rich sources of vitamin A include dairy products such as milk cheese, butter, and ice cream. Eggs as well as internal organs such as the Hver, kidney, and heart also represent good sources. In addition, fish such as herring, sardines, and tuna, and in particular the Hver oil from certain marine organisms, are excellent sources. Because the vitamin A in these food products is derived from dietary carotenoids, vitamin A content can vary considerably. Variation of vitamin A content in food can also result from food processing and in particular, oxidation processes (8). 

Marine organisms represent a largely unexplored source of unique toxic chemicals. These toxins are produced by the organisms as defense weapons against their predators. Several potent compounds demonstrating antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo have been isolated from marine organisms, e. g., the bryostatins (from Bugula neritina), dolastin 10 (from Dolabella auricularia) and halichondrine B (from Halichondria okadat) [61]. 

Marine organisms represent a valuable source of nutraceuticals and functional compounds. The biodiversity of the marine environment and the associated chemical diversity constitute a practically unlimited resource of novel active substances for the development of bioactive products. Recently, a great deal of interest has been expressed in marine-derived bioactive peptides because of their numerous beneficial health effects. Moreover, several studies have reported that marine bioactive peptides can be used as... 

Modern bacteria inhabit almost every ecological niche in the biosphere, and there are bacteria capable of using virtually every type of organic compound as a source of carbon and energy. Photosynthetic bacteria in both fresh and marine waters trap solar energy and use it to generate carbohydrates and all other cell constituents, which are in turn used as food by other forms of life. The process of evolution continues—and in rapidly reproducing bacterial cells, on a time scale that allows us to witness it in the laboratory. 

Marine organisms are a well-established source of unique and biologically active peptides. Complex cyclic peptides and depsipeptides have emerged as an important new class of metabolites present in extracts of marine organisms. Many of these peptides have been found to be extremely potent cytotoxic and /or enzyme inhibitors. 

Inoue, S. and Yamazaki, N. Eds. 1982. Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry of Carbon Dioxide (Wiley, New York). Aresta, M. and Forti, G. Eds. 1987. Carbon Dioxide as a source of Carbon. Biochemical and Chemical Uses . (Reidel Publishing Company, Holland). Alvarez, R. Carmona, E. Marin, J.M. Poveda, M.L. Gutierrez-Puebla, E. and Monge, A. 1986. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 108,2286-2294. 

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