Novel Antibiotics from Marine Sources

With the emergence of newer diseases, resistant forms of infectious diseases and multi-drug resistant bacteria, it has become essential to develop novel and more effective antibiotics. Current antibiotics are obtained from terrestrial life or made synthetically from intermediates. The ocean represents virtually untapped resource from which novel antibiotic compounds can be discovered. It is the marine world that will provide the pharmaceutical industry with the next generation of antibiotics. Marine antibiotics are antibiotics obtained from marine organisms. Scientists have reported the discovery of various antibiotics from marine bacteria (aplasmomycin, himalomycins, and pelagiomycins), sponges (Ara C, variabillin, strobilin, ircinin-1, aeroplysin, 3,5-dibromo4-hydroxyphenylacetamide), coelenterates (asperidol and eunicin), mollusks (laurinterol and pachydictyol), tunicates (geranylhydroquinone and cystadytins), algae (cycloeudesmol, aeroplysinin-1(+), prepacifenol and tetrabromoheptanone), worms (tholepin and 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybezaldehyde), and actinomycetes (marinomycins C and D). This indicates that the marine environment, representing approximately half of the global diversity, is an enormous resource for new antibiotics and this source needs to be explored for the discovery of new generation antibiotics. The present article provides an overview of various antibiotics obtained from marine sources.