Natural Products Chemistry of Marine Organisms
Summary
The marine environment is a vast reservoir of chemically diverse secondary metabolites produced by sponges, algae, bacteria, molluscs and other invertebrates. These natural products encompass terpenoids, alkaloids, polyketides and peptides, many of which exhibit potent biological activities including antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Recent advances in analytic techniques such as high-resolution mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance and genome mining have accelerated the discovery of novel molecular scaffolds. Sustainable supply and structural modification through synthetic biology and total synthesis have become central to translating marine hits into drug candidates. Interdisciplinary approaches, integrating ecology, chemistry and pharmacology, are revealing both the ecological roles of these compounds in predator deterrence and competition, and their promise as templates for new therapeutics. Efforts to develop scalable production via microbial fermentation and semi-synthesis continue to address challenges of supply, while novel screening platforms and target-based assays refine the selection of lead compounds for clinical development.
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Natural Products Chemistry of Marine Organisms publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in natural products chemistry of marine organisms across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Secondary metabolite: A non-essential compound produced by organisms, often with ecological or defensive roles and pharmacological activities.
Terpenoid: A class of natural products derived from isoprene units, notable for structural diversity and bioactivity.
Alkaloid: Nitrogen-containing natural compounds, frequently with potent physiological effects.
Polyketide: Molecules formed by polymerisation of acetyl-derived units, exhibiting varied therapeutic properties.
Cytotoxicity: The quality of being toxic to cells, often exploited in anticancer drug screening.
Apoptosis: Programmed cell death characterised by specific biochemical and morphological changes.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen, which at high levels can damage cellular components.
References
- Natural Bioactive Compounds from Marine Invertebrates That Modulate Key Targets Implicated in the Onset of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Its Complications. Pharmaceutics (2023).
- Natural Products Derived from Marine Sponges with Antitumor Potential against Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review. Marine Drugs (2024).
- Terpenes extracted from marine sponges with antioxidant activity: a systematic review. Natural Products and Bioprospecting (2023).
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