A systematic search for constituents of marine sponges has yielded over one hundred new compounds, most of them with unique structural features. A broad survey of the field is presented and certain topics, particularly those closely related to recent work done in our own laboratory on sesquiterpenoids, are discussed in more detail.

Standardization is one of the foundational features of modern-day engineering, and the use of standardized parts and processes is a key element that distinguishes bona fide synthetic biology from traditional genetic engineering. Here, we discuss the role of standardization in natural product synthetic biology, focusing on standardization of data on biosynthetic pathways and gene clusters, as we...