Marine Sponge: Natural Reservoir of a Myriad of Bioactive Compounds

Biodiversity in the marine environment exceeds that of the terrestrial environment. But exploration of marine natural products is still in the infant stage. Among the diverse bioactive compounds which are discovered from marine organisms, sponges have been assigned a high priority as they have been accepted as a promising organism for the discovery of pharmacologically active drug leads. Marine sponges have provided successful examples that prove natural products derived from them had the therapeutic potential to develop as future drugs against different types of cancer, viral diseases, malaria, inflammation etc. All these findings attract the pharmaceutical field to involve in marine sponge research though more research is required to confirm promising results. Today scientists engage in studying the mode of action of the compounds from sponges at molecular level and also their possible role in treating diseases as the fascinating marine life continues to give natural products. This review aims at covering the new developments in the field of marine sponge research and bioactive compound discovery. Amitha Kurian 1 , Preetham Elumalai 1, 2 * 1 Department of Biochemistry, School of Aquatic Food Products and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Cochin-682506, Kerala,