Marine Actin
663
Part E | 27.1
27. Marine Actinomycetes in Biodiscovery
D. İpek Kurtböke, Tanja Grkovic, Ronald J. Quinn
Marine natural products will be the driving
force for interdisciplinary advancements bridging
medicine, chemistry, and biology for sustainable
future biotechnological advancements. Recent
advances in sequencing technology and bioinformatics have revealed that actinomycete genomes
encode far more secondary metabolite gene clusters than originally thought. The development
of new culturing techniques from marine environments has enabled the isolation of previously
uncultured actinomycetes resulting in the identification of new bioactive compounds deriving from
these bacteria, including species-specific bioactive
compounds. Advances in genomic technologies
have renewed interest in marine actinomycetes
as an attractive source of new therapeutic agents.
Genome sequences of bioactive marine actinomycete taxa will continue to provide information
on the bioactive potential of the genus/family
members, and selective isolation protocols will
be designed based on the taxon-specific information generated. This chapter provides an
overview on the above highlighted advances from
an eco-taxonomical perspective reflecting on the
diversified natural product chemistry provided by
marine actinomycetes.
27.1 Overview ............................................. 663
27.1.1 Marine Actinomycetes
in Biodiscovery ......................... 663
27.1.2 Novel Chemistry
from Marine Actinomycetes ........ 664
27.2 Advances in the Field of Biodiscovery:
Genomics and Genome Mining
for Discovery of New Antibiotics ........... 665
27.3 Ecological and Physiological
Perspectives ........................................ 666
27.3.1 Metagenomic Approaches .......... 666
27.3.2 Exploring Marine Physiological
Adaptations of Actinomycetes
for Selective Recovery ................ 666
27.3.3 Bacteriophage-Guided Route
to Detection and Recovery
of Marine Actinomycetes ............ 667
27.4 An Australian Example:
Exploring the Biosynthetic Potential
of a Marine-Derived Streptomycete. ...... 668
27.4.1 Morphology, Physiology,
and Secondary Metabolite
Production................................ 668
27.4.2 Natural Product Chemistry.......... 670
27.5 Future Prospects .................................. 671
References................................................... 672
27.1 Overview
27.1.1 Marine Actinomycetes in Biodiscovery
Advances in molecular ecology clearly indicate that
novel bacterial taxa are present in marine environments
including surface seawater and tidal mud flats [27.1–
3]. These novel taxa can also be a source for novel
chemistry leading to the discovery of, for example, new aminofuran antibiotics from Verrucosispora
maris [27.4].
The impact of marine microorganisms can be
seen from the annual reviews of marine natural products [27.5]. The review covering the 2005 literature
showed that 45% of the accumulated literature on marine microorganisms had been published in the period
2001–2005 (as compared to 1965–2005). While analysis of the distribution of articles, compounds and
species to the end of 2006 showed that 5% of the marine species examined originate from bacteria and >
95% are from marine Eukaryota [27.6] comparison of
2007 against the historic average for the period 1965–
2005 showed a rise of 600% in the microorganism
category [27.7].
663
Part E | 27.1
27. Marine Actinomycetes in Biodiscovery
D. İpek Kurtböke, Tanja Grkovic, Ronald J. Quinn
Marine natural products will be the driving
force for interdisciplinary advancements bridging
medicine, chemistry, and biology for sustainable
future biotechnological advancements. Recent
advances in sequencing technology and bioinformatics have revealed that actinomycete genomes
encode far more secondary metabolite gene clusters than originally thought. The development
of new culturing techniques from marine environments has enabled the isolation of previously
uncultured actinomycetes resulting in the identification of new bioactive compounds deriving from
these bacteria, including species-specific bioactive
compounds. Advances in genomic technologies
have renewed interest in marine actinomycetes
as an attractive source of new therapeutic agents.
Genome sequences of bioactive marine actinomycete taxa will continue to provide information
on the bioactive potential of the genus/family
members, and selective isolation protocols will
be designed based on the taxon-specific information generated. This chapter provides an
overview on the above highlighted advances from
an eco-taxonomical perspective reflecting on the
diversified natural product chemistry provided by
marine actinomycetes.
27.1 Overview ............................................. 663
27.1.1 Marine Actinomycetes
in Biodiscovery ......................... 663
27.1.2 Novel Chemistry
from Marine Actinomycetes ........ 664
27.2 Advances in the Field of Biodiscovery:
Genomics and Genome Mining
for Discovery of New Antibiotics ........... 665
27.3 Ecological and Physiological
Perspectives ........................................ 666
27.3.1 Metagenomic Approaches .......... 666
27.3.2 Exploring Marine Physiological
Adaptations of Actinomycetes
for Selective Recovery ................ 666
27.3.3 Bacteriophage-Guided Route
to Detection and Recovery
of Marine Actinomycetes ............ 667
27.4 An Australian Example:
Exploring the Biosynthetic Potential
of a Marine-Derived Streptomycete. ...... 668
27.4.1 Morphology, Physiology,
and Secondary Metabolite
Production................................ 668
27.4.2 Natural Product Chemistry.......... 670
27.5 Future Prospects .................................. 671
References................................................... 672
27.1 Overview
27.1.1 Marine Actinomycetes in Biodiscovery
Advances in molecular ecology clearly indicate that
novel bacterial taxa are present in marine environments
including surface seawater and tidal mud flats [27.1–
3]. These novel taxa can also be a source for novel
chemistry leading to the discovery of, for example, new aminofuran antibiotics from Verrucosispora
maris [27.4].
The impact of marine microorganisms can be
seen from the annual reviews of marine natural products [27.5]. The review covering the 2005 literature
showed that 45% of the accumulated literature on marine microorganisms had been published in the period
2001–2005 (as compared to 1965–2005). While analysis of the distribution of articles, compounds and
species to the end of 2006 showed that 5% of the marine species examined originate from bacteria and >
95% are from marine Eukaryota [27.6] comparison of
2007 against the historic average for the period 1965–
2005 showed a rise of 600% in the microorganism
category [27.7].