Special Issue "Deep-Sea Natural Products"

Guest Editor
Dr. Danielle Skropeta
School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia
E-Mail: skropeta@uow.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 4221 4360
Fax: +61 2 4221 4287

Dear Colleagues,

Oceans cover 70% of the world’s surface, with 95% greater than 1000 m deep. Yet of the 30,000 marine natural products reported, less than 2% derive from deep-sea organisms. Today, with improved acoustic technology and greater access to submersibles, deep-sea exploration is uncovering extensive deep-water reefs that are home to a myriad of new species, making the deep sea one of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet.  In the search for sources of new chemical diversity, deep-sea natural products have emerged as a new frontier in drug discovery and development, with over 60% exhibiting significant bioactivity.

Life in the deep sea involves exposure to high hydrostatic pressures, variable temperatures and low oxygen and light, requiring its inhabitants to adapt their biochemical machinery to cope with the extreme conditions. This has the potential to affect both their primary and secondary metabolic pathways, giving rise to structurally unique metabolites.

The deep-sea is a vast and relatively untapped reservoir of unique molecular, structural and biological diversity. As the Guest Editor, I invite scientists to present their recent advances in the field of deep-sea natural products including the isolation and identification of both deep-sea microbial and invertebrate natural products; biological evaluation, synthesis and biosynthesis; and studies addressing issues challenging the field such as the culturing of deep-sea microbes and deep-sea sponges.

Dr. Danielle Skropeta
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs).

• marine natural products
• bioactive compounds
• synthesis; deep-sea
• deep-water
• extreme environments
• trawling
• dredging
• manned submersibles
• remotely operated vehicles