Petroleum hydrocarbons are important energy resources used by industry and in our daily life, whose production contributes highly to environmental pollution. To control such risk, bioremediation constitutes an environmentally friendly alternative technology that has been established and applied. It constitutes the primary mechanism for the elimination of hydrocarbons from contaminated sites by ...

Marine-derived small molecules and peptides have played a central role in elaborating pharmacological specificities and neuronal functions of mammalian ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), the primary mediators of excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system (CNS). As well, the pathological sequelae elicited by one class of compounds (the kainoids) constitute a widely-used...

The historical paradigm of the deep ocean as a biological 'desert' has shifted to one of a 'rainforest' owing to the isolation of many novel microbes and their associated bioactive compounds. Recently, there has been an explosion of information about novel bioactive compounds that have been isolated from marine microbes in an effort to further explore the relatively untapped marine microbes and...

Among the trace elements, arsenic appears to possess a unique position in the environment. When comparing terrestrial and marine organisms there seems to be a significant difference between both level and chemical forms of arsenic. The level of arsenic in terrestrial organisms is seldom above 1 ppm (dry material) whereas the corresponding values for marine organisms vary from several parts per ...

Marine algae are a rich source of bioactive compounds. This paper outlines the main bioactive compounds in marine algae and recent advances in novel technologies for extracting them. Novel extraction technologies reviewed include enzyme-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and pressurized liquid extraction. These tec...

Marine-derived fungi provide plenty of structurally unique and biologically active secondary metabolites. We screened 87 marine products from mangrove fungi in the South China Sea for anticancer activity by MTT assay. 14% of the compounds (11/86) exhibited a potent activity against cancer in vitro. Importantly, some compounds such as compounds 78 and 81 appeared to be promising for treating can...

By the end of 2017, there were seven marine-derived pharmaceutical substances that have been approved by the FDA for clinical use as drugs[...].

Marine bacteria and fungi are of considerable importance as new promising sources of a huge number of biologically active products. Some of these marine species live in a stressful habitat, under cold, lightless and high pressure conditions. Surprisingly, a large number of species with high diversity survive under such conditions and produce fascinating and structurally complex natural products...

Biofouling causes huge economic loss and a recent global ban on organotin compounds as antifouling agents has increased the need for safe and effective antifouling compounds. Five structurally similar compounds were isolated from the crude extract of a marine Streptomyces strain obtained from deep-sea sediments. Antifouling activities of these five compounds and four other structurally-related ...