Bioactive compounds from marine bacteria and fungi

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. Up till now, only a small number of microorganisms have been investigated for bioactive metabolites, yet a huge number of active substances with some of them featuring unique structural skeletons have been isolated. This review covers new biologically active natural products published recently (2007-09) and highlights the chemical potential of marine microorganisms, with focus on bioactive products as well as on their mechanisms of action.