Collection of Biosynthetic Genes from Marine Microbes

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biotechnology Related to Drug Discovery or Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 2134

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Biology and Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Interests: biosynthesis; antibiotics; gene regulation; non-coding RNA; streptomyces; strain prioritization; genetic engineering
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oceans cover a majority of the earth’s surface, providing habitats for diverse marine life, including abundant marine microbes. The exponential growth of their genome sequences has revealed untapped and unparalleled biosynthetic potential. To contribute to marine microbiology and natural product fields, the goal of this Special Issue is to collect fast-growing genomic information related to the biosynthesis of marine-origin natural products. This includes (but is not limited to) the following topics:

  • Biosynthetic gene cluster and its products that incorporate halogen or sulfur atoms;
  • Metagenomics as an essential tool to unravel biosynthetic genes of unculturable marine microbes;
  • The exploration of biosynthetic genes from deep ocean-dwelling microbes;
  • Biosynthetic machinery from marine symbiotic microbes;
  • Biosynthetic pathways in eukaryotes.

I believe that advancing biosynthetic knowledge through the use of marine microbes will enable us to fully explore the microbial world. We look forward to your manuscript submissions in the form of original research articles or reviews.

Dr. Hindra Hindra
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short 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 thoroughly refereed through a single-blind 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.

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Keywords

  • natural product
  • biosynthesis
  • genome mining
  • heterologous expression
  • metagenomics
  • feeding experiments

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 56913 KiB  
Article
Deep-Sea Ecosystems as an Unexpected Source of Antibiotic Resistance Genes
by Wei Zhang, Yingdong Li, Yunmeng Chu, Hao Liu, Hongmei Jing and Qianfeng Xia
Mar. Drugs 2025, 23(1), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/md23010017 - 31 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1320
Abstract
The deep-sea ecosystem, a less-contaminated reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), has evolved antibiotic resistance for microbes to survive and utilize scarce resources. Research on the diversity and distribution of these genes in deep-sea environments is limited. Our metagenomics study employed short-read-based (SRB) [...] Read more.
The deep-sea ecosystem, a less-contaminated reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), has evolved antibiotic resistance for microbes to survive and utilize scarce resources. Research on the diversity and distribution of these genes in deep-sea environments is limited. Our metagenomics study employed short-read-based (SRB) and assembled-contig-based (ACB) methods to identify ARGs in deep-sea waters and sediments and assess their potential pathogenicity. SRB prediction was found to be more effective for studying the abundance and diversity of these genes, while combining both methods better illustrated the relationship of ARGs with the hosts. Deep-sea waters (DSW) and trenches had the highest diversity of ARGs, including β-lactams, multidrug resistance genes, and rifamycins. Mobile genetic elements, such as IncQ and RP4 plasmids, were also identified. The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (pN/pS) values of these genes suggest different evolutionary strategies in response to deep-sea conditions and possible human impacts. These resistome profiles provide valuable insights into their natural origins as well as the ecological and evolutionary implications of antibiotic resistance in deep-sea ecosystems. The exploration of the global distribution of ARGs in diverse deep-sea environments is a novel approach that will assist in understanding their potential reservoirs and evolutionary mechanisms. Therefore, employing a comprehensive approach to studying ARGs is particularly necessary. Unique microbial life in deep-sea ecosystems, especially in deep-sea cold seeps sediments (DSCSS), deep-sea waters (DSW), and trench waters (TW), could be a valuable source of new antibiotics and resistance discovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Collection of Biosynthetic Genes from Marine Microbes)
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