Genome Mining and Discovery of Marine Novel Antibiotics
A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Chemoecology for Drug Discovery".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 113
Special Issue Editor
Interests: microbial natutral product; isolation and purification; structure determination; chemical analysis; microbiology; metabonomics; natural products biosynthesis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The oceans, spanning over 70% of our planet’s surface, harbor unparalleled microbial diversity and remain a largely untapped reservoir of bioactive compounds. With mounting global threats from antimicrobial resistance (AMR), unlocking the potential of marine microorganisms to produce novel antibiotics has never been more urgent. Advances in synthetic biology, genome mining, and multi-omics technologies are now revolutionizing the discovery of bioactive secondary metabolites, enabling researchers to decode cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and harness previously inaccessible natural products.
This Special Issue, entitled Genome Mining and Discovery of Marine Novel Antibiotics, seeks to showcase pioneering research at the intersection of microbial genomics, metabolomics, and bioengineering. We aim to highlight innovative strategies for identifying, activating, and optimizing marine-derived antimicrobial agents. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Genome-guided exploration of marine microbial natural products;
- Cutting-edge genome mining tools;
- Activation of silent or understudied BGCs through genetic and environmental manipulation;
- Biosynthetic pathway engineering and heterologous expression of marine-derived compounds;
- Biotechnological applications of marine microbes in drug discovery;
- Integration of bioinformatics, multi-omics, and machine learning to accelerate antibiotic discovery;
- Ecological and evolutionary insights into marine microbial biosynthesis;
- Natural products from underexplored marine environments;
- Natural products from host–microbe interactions.
In particular, we welcome studies that combine computational tools, experimental validation, and translational approaches to overcome barriers in natural product discovery. We invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that align with these themes.
Dr. Jianying Han
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.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- genome mining
- marine natural products
- antibiotic discovery
- marine actinobacteria
- marine fungi
- biosynthetic gene clusters
- metabolomics
- metagenomics
- structure elucidation
- microbial technology
- host–microbe interaction
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