Special Issue "Marine Peptides"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Frank Mari
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Website: http://www.science.fau.edu/chemistry/2008faculty/2009mari.htm
E-Mail: mari@fau.edu
Phone: +1 561 297 3315
Fax: +1 561 297 2759

Dear Colleagues,

The marine environment is a vast source of natural products. The biodiversity found in the oceans is remarkable and it has only begun to be explored recently, when compared with terrestrial habitats. The molecular variety associated with this biodiversity represents a challenge for drug discovery. Nevertheless, screening and pharmacological evaluation of marine natural products as potential drug leads has taken a giant leap in the past two decades. As a result, the first drug of marine origin has obtained approval by the FDA on December 31^st 2004. Prialt, a peptide (an ω-conotoxin) isolated from a cone snail (Conus magus), has been approved for the treatment of chronic pain as a morphine replacement therapy and it is the most powerful painkiller known to date. This landmark event is evidence that a new wave of “Drugs from the Sea” with novel pharmacologies for the treatment of an array of diseases and conditions is on its way. This issue of Marine Drugs is dedicated to “Marine Peptides”. Whether these compounds are ribosomally-expressed, such as the conotoxins and sea anemone toxins, or enzymatically-produced peptides, they are of great interest as drug leads and for drug development. We hope that the manuscripts here included will cover several aspects of recent developments within the field.

Prof. Dr. Frank Mari
Guest Editor

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted to marinedrugs@mdpi.com with a copy to the Guest Editor. 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 1400 CHF per accepted paper.

• peptidic natural products
• ribosomally-expressed
• enzymatically-produced
• cone snails
• sea anemones
• sponges
• structure-activity
• bioactivity
• structural determination
• bioavailability
• peptide synthesis