Bioactive Metabolites Produced by Marine Cyanobacteria and Other Microalgae

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: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 737

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Division of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Marszałka J. Piłsudskiego 46, PL-81378 Gdynia, Poland
Interests: natural products; marine drugs; cytotoxicity, antiviral agents; nonribosomal peptides; structure and activity; cyanobacteria toxins; peptidomics
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Guest Editor
Division of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, , Marszałka J. Piłsudskiego 46, PL-81378 Gdynia, Poland
Interests: marine microbes; bioactive natural products; marine drugs; nonribosomal peptides; antibacterial activity; molecular ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although secondary metabolites produced by marine cyanobacteria and other microalgae have been explored for over fifty years, they still attract the attention of many research groups. A significant number of the compounds showed some effects on other organisms and were proven to be active against different cellular targets. Toxic and anticancer effects and activity against important metabolic enzymes are the most commonly reported. With the growing awareness of the risk of infectious diseases, an increased interest in antimicrobial and antiviral potential of the compounds can also be observed.

Due to the diverse biological activities of the metabolites produced by marine cyanobacteria and microalgae, the pharmaceutical and biotechnological potential of these organisms is widely explored. What may seem surprising, however, is that the role of the metabolites in the life of the producing microorganisms usually remains unknown.

We invite authors to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting original research articles or review papers on all aspects of bioactive metabolites produced by marine cyanobacteria and other microalgae. This could include structural analysis, studies of activity and mechanism of action, characterization of biosynthetic gene clusters, ecological significance and potential pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications of the metabolites.

Prof. Dr. Hanna Mazur-Marzec
Dr. Anna Toruńska-Sitarz
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cyanobacteria
  • microalgae
  • natural products
  • secondary metabolites
  • genome mining
  • extraction and isolation
  • structural analysis
  • biological activity
  • molecular targets
  • pharmaceutical application
  • biotechnological potential
  • toxicity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 3130 KiB  
Communication
Aeruginosin 525 (AER525) from Cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon Sp. (KUCC C2): A New Serine Proteases Inhibitor
by Donata Overlingė, Marta Cegłowska, Robert Konkel and Hanna Mazur-Marzec
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(11), 506; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22110506 - 8 Nov 2024
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Abstract
Aeruginosins (AERs) are one of the most common classes of cyanobacterial peptides synthesised through a hybrid non-ribosomal peptide synthase/polyketide synthase pathway. They have been found in Microcystis, Nodularia spumigena, Oscillatoria/Plantothrix, and Nostoc. The presence of AER in Aphanizomenon [...] Read more.
Aeruginosins (AERs) are one of the most common classes of cyanobacterial peptides synthesised through a hybrid non-ribosomal peptide synthase/polyketide synthase pathway. They have been found in Microcystis, Nodularia spumigena, Oscillatoria/Plantothrix, and Nostoc. The presence of AER in Aphanizomenon isolated from the Curonian Lagoon was reported for the first time in our previous work. Here, the structure of aeruginosin 525 (AER525), isolated from Aphanizomenon sp. KUCC C2, was characterised based on high-resolution mass spectrometry. This new AER variant shows potent activity against thrombin. It also inhibits trypsin and carboxypeptidase A but has no effect on elastase and chymotrypsin. In terms of the N-terminal residue and biological activity, AER525 displaces some similarity to dysinosins, which belongs to the most potent inhibitors of thrombin among AERs. The findings underline the potential of AER525 as a new anticoagulant agent. Full article
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