Search for New Drug Candidates and Their Lead Compounds from Tunicates

Dear Colleagues,

Marine ascidians (tunicates) hold a central role in the natural-product-based drug-discovery processes. With the over one thousands of new compounds isolated in the last 30 years, ascidians have established themselves as a valuable and heterogeneous source of new chemical scaffolds and pharmaceutically potent molecules, including clinically used compounds and preclinical leads. Moreover, the huge chemical diversity originating from the wealth of tunicates’ secondary metabolites has raised issues about the origin of these metabolites; it has been demonstrated that some of these compounds are made by symbiotic bacteria and not by the animals themselves. The therapeutic potential of ascidian-derived compounds and the biotechnological findings associated to their symbiotic origin still inspire scientists in the world, also linked to the possibility to use them as inspiration for a countless generation of synthetic drugs.

This Special Issue in “Search for New Drug Candidates and Their Lead Compounds from Tunicates” offers researchers the opportunity to publish their original works in a large number of fields. Thus, we invite marine scientists to submit papers based on natural products from tunicates and tunicate-associated microorganisms as well as synthetic marine-inspired compounds, useful for health and for environmental or biotechnological applications. Review papers that present up-to-date knowledge on bioactive compounds from marine tunicates useful for a specific therapeutic area (e.g., antitumor, antinflammatory, antimicrobial) or addressing the recent advances in ascidian symbiosis as it relates to natural products chemistry are also welcome.

Dr. Concetta Imperatore
Prof. Dr. Marialuisa Menna
Dr. Marcello Casertano
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.