288
J. Querellou et al.
There are several reasons for believing that marine biotechnology will be an
exciting, and more importantly fruitful, domain in the coming years. Life started
in water and has existed in the sea for approximately 3.8 billion years. In addition,
there is significantly more phylogenetic diversity in the sea than on land; for example, of the 36 animal phyla, 14 are found only in the marine environment and, in
comparison, one is endemic to the terrestrial environment (Gray 1997). One consequence of the combination of phylogenetic diversity and long evolutionary history
is an enormous diversity with regards to metabolic processes. The marine environment is also extremely variable and has certain characteristics and properties that
further serve to increase metabolic diversity; for example, hydrothermal vents represent high temperature environments with very special chemical composition and the
intertidal area the dynamic meeting point between the terrestrial and marine environments. Seawater also contains high concentrations of halides, including bromide
and iodide ions, which are used by many marine organisms in their metabolisms.
The metabolic diversity of marine organisms is poorly characterised and relatively
little effort has been invested so far in the marine area compared to the terrestrial
domain. We believe that genomics is a powerful tool to explore this diversity and
discover new marine biotechnology applications.
Marine biotechnology is a relatively recent concept, drug discovery begun with
the identification of nucleosides in the sponge Tethya crypta, which served as
models for the development of antiviral drugs in the fifties and which were later
important for the development of drugs such as AZT and Acyclovir (Newman
and Cragg 2004, Leary et al. 2009); the first marine antibiotic [2,3,4-tribromo5(1 hydroxy, 2 ,4 –dibromo phenyl)pyrrole] derived from the marine bacterium
Pseudomonas bromoutilis was described in the sixties (Burkholder et al. 1966).
Yet, marine biotechnology remains at an early stage of development. Despite the
overwhelming distribution of marine habitats on Earth and the promise of novel
products from the organisms living there, the derived revenues have been modest. In 2006 the sales of pharmaceutical products were approximately 650 billion
USD with less than half of a percent of this being derived from marine natural products despite the fact that 27% of all products were of biological origin.
The enzyme market represented approximately 50 billion USD and showed a
similar ratio (Leary et al. 2009). Furthermore, of the 15,000 registered marine
products, presently only two registered drugs exist, Prialt
R
and Yondelis
R
, with
an additional 50 (approximately) under various phases of development (Newman
and Cragg 2004, www.marinebiotech.org/pipeline.html). A more effective use of
genomics could change this situation, providing new enzymes for biotechnology,
opening new avenues for the treatment of disease and monitoring health, increase
the efficiency of aquaculture, and develop new resources for industrial materials and processes. This could be, for example, a compound from a coral used
as an anti-inflammatory drug (Mayer et al. 1998), new anticancer drugs derived
from marine algae (Fuller et al. 1992, 1994) and other marine sources (Amador
et al. 2003) or bacteria that digests up oil spills (Head et al. 2006). One factor that will, in our opinion, increase the interest in marine biotechnology is
REACH, the new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe
J. Querellou et al.
There are several reasons for believing that marine biotechnology will be an
exciting, and more importantly fruitful, domain in the coming years. Life started
in water and has existed in the sea for approximately 3.8 billion years. In addition,
there is significantly more phylogenetic diversity in the sea than on land; for example, of the 36 animal phyla, 14 are found only in the marine environment and, in
comparison, one is endemic to the terrestrial environment (Gray 1997). One consequence of the combination of phylogenetic diversity and long evolutionary history
is an enormous diversity with regards to metabolic processes. The marine environment is also extremely variable and has certain characteristics and properties that
further serve to increase metabolic diversity; for example, hydrothermal vents represent high temperature environments with very special chemical composition and the
intertidal area the dynamic meeting point between the terrestrial and marine environments. Seawater also contains high concentrations of halides, including bromide
and iodide ions, which are used by many marine organisms in their metabolisms.
The metabolic diversity of marine organisms is poorly characterised and relatively
little effort has been invested so far in the marine area compared to the terrestrial
domain. We believe that genomics is a powerful tool to explore this diversity and
discover new marine biotechnology applications.
Marine biotechnology is a relatively recent concept, drug discovery begun with
the identification of nucleosides in the sponge Tethya crypta, which served as
models for the development of antiviral drugs in the fifties and which were later
important for the development of drugs such as AZT and Acyclovir (Newman
and Cragg 2004, Leary et al. 2009); the first marine antibiotic [2,3,4-tribromo5(1 hydroxy, 2 ,4 –dibromo phenyl)pyrrole] derived from the marine bacterium
Pseudomonas bromoutilis was described in the sixties (Burkholder et al. 1966).
Yet, marine biotechnology remains at an early stage of development. Despite the
overwhelming distribution of marine habitats on Earth and the promise of novel
products from the organisms living there, the derived revenues have been modest. In 2006 the sales of pharmaceutical products were approximately 650 billion
USD with less than half of a percent of this being derived from marine natural products despite the fact that 27% of all products were of biological origin.
The enzyme market represented approximately 50 billion USD and showed a
similar ratio (Leary et al. 2009). Furthermore, of the 15,000 registered marine
products, presently only two registered drugs exist, Prialt
R
and Yondelis
R
, with
an additional 50 (approximately) under various phases of development (Newman
and Cragg 2004, www.marinebiotech.org/pipeline.html). A more effective use of
genomics could change this situation, providing new enzymes for biotechnology,
opening new avenues for the treatment of disease and monitoring health, increase
the efficiency of aquaculture, and develop new resources for industrial materials and processes. This could be, for example, a compound from a coral used
as an anti-inflammatory drug (Mayer et al. 1998), new anticancer drugs derived
from marine algae (Fuller et al. 1992, 1994) and other marine sources (Amador
et al. 2003) or bacteria that digests up oil spills (Head et al. 2006). One factor that will, in our opinion, increase the interest in marine biotechnology is
REACH, the new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe