Title: Human health security and climate change: Investigation of therapeutic compounds from marine
sponge associated fungi
Abstract:
Natural products are of significant importance in the discovery of new therapeutic agents. The
microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are the most important producers of such compounds.
Marine microorganisms have more recently been isolated from a variety of marine habitats such as sea
water, sediments, algae and different animals to discover new natural products. Recently it was shown
that filter feeding invertebrates such as sponges harbor a wealth of associated bacteria that do not
merely reflect microbial communities of the seawater of the adjacent sediment but are apparently the
result of more specialized interactions. However, the nature of these associations between sponges and
microorganisms is not yet fully understood.
The recent research on fungi isolated from sponges account for the highest number (28%) of novel
compounds reported from marine isolates of fungi. The sponge-derived fungal cultures have repeatedly
been shown to be interesting sources of new bioactive secondary metabolites previously unknown from
terrestrial strains of the same species. Some examples of unusual fungal metabolites reported, a new
polyketide from the fungus Hortaea werneckii isolated from the sponge Aplysina aerophoba, new
anthraquinone and betaenone derivatives as well as new γ-pyrones from the fungus Microsphaeropsis
sp., also obtained from A. aerophoba, new spiciferone derivatives from the fungus Drechslera awaiiensis
derived from the sponge Callyspongia aerizusa, and new xestodecalactones produced by Penicillium cf.
montanense, which was isolated from the sponge Xestospongia exigua. Therefore, the marine isolates of
fungi evidently are a rich source of chemically diverse natural products which has not been consequently
exploited so far. In view of these exciting data, the present research is aimed for discovery of novel
therapeutic compounds from Fijian marine sponges associated fungi where isolation, purification,
characterization, evaluation and structural characterization of novel therapeutic compounds will be
done.
The Pacific nations including Fiji continue to have a high incidence of cancer deaths, malaria and other
communicable and infectious diseases. Importantly, most of the disease are resistant to the
known/available drugs, thus there is urgent need for new drugs to control these diseases. In this
juncture, the marine microorganisms have more recently been discovered to provide a number of novel
compounds that is able to cure such dangerous diseases. Interestingly, the current literature survey and
the on-going research in Drug Discovery Unit, IAS, USP clearly revealed that Fiji has promising marine
resource which holding abundant new marine organisms with the production of novel bioactive
compounds. Therefore, the present study is aimed to isolate fungi which associated with Fijian marine
sponges with the ultimate goal of discovery of new compounds that can be developed into effective
therapeutic drugs for the world including the Pacific to combat these deadly diseases.
The Fijian marine microbial resource has not been fully explored and hence, research is being focused in
this area to investigate and exploit the hidden marine treasure. This research would eventually lead to
the following out come.
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Fungal fermentation process for production of antimicrobial metabolites
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Downstream process for isolation and purification of specific metabolites
Novel antimicrobial/anticancer/antiparasitic molecules
Lead molecules to develop new derivative compounds