Marine Natural Products as Potential Drug Leads

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 4064

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Bio-Organic Chemistry Unit, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Campi Flegrei 34, Pozzuoli, 80078 Naples, Italy
Interests: marine natural products; drug disovery; medicinal chemistry; structure elucidation; qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic compounds; lipids
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine natural products are an excellent source of new molecules with unique chemical and biological properties, representing a worthy font of new potential drug leads. In the last few years, many marine-inspired drugs have been commercialized or are under investigation for the treatment of several diseases, and more companies are making investments in this area. Furthermore, as new disorders are emerging, as are major diseases, such as infectious or cancerous ones, pharmaceutical companies are looking for small molecules with new mechanisms of action with which to develop effective and safe drugs. Thus, it appears crucial to develop innovative approaches to discover new potential drug leads. The study of marine natural products represents an efficient strategy for finding new molecules capable of interacting specifically with biological targets, giving us the opportunity to discover and study new mechanisms of action as well as intracellular pathways.

The focus of this Special Issue will be to highlight the potential of marine natural products in the field of drug discovery. This Special Issue will cover all drug discovery research starting from marine natural products, including their isolation, structure characterization, biosynthesis, biological properties and mechanism of action as well as synthetic approaches towards them and related analogues. Submissions on the development of innovative scientific approaches to discover new lead compounds are welcome.

Academic and industry scientists are invited to submit original research articles and/or reviews highlighting the pharmacological potential of marine compounds.

Dr. Genoveffa Nuzzo
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

  • marine natural products
  • drug discovery
  • structure characterization
  • medicinal chemistry
  • bioactive metabolites

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

34 pages, 2294 KiB  
Review
Terpenoids from Marine Sources: A Promising Avenue for New Antimicrobial Drugs
by Xiao Liu, Jianzeng Xin, Yupei Sun, Feng Zhao, Changshan Niu and Sheng Liu
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(8), 347; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22080347 - 28 Jul 2024
Viewed by 3680
Abstract
Currently, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial and antifungal agents to combat the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance. As the largest ecosystem on Earth, the marine ecosystem includes a vast array of microorganisms (primarily bacteria and fungi), plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, [...] Read more.
Currently, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial and antifungal agents to combat the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance. As the largest ecosystem on Earth, the marine ecosystem includes a vast array of microorganisms (primarily bacteria and fungi), plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, making it a rich source of various antimicrobial compounds. Notably, terpenoids, known for their complex structures and diverse bioactivities, are a significant and promising group of compounds in the battle against bacterial and fungal infections. In the past five years, numerous antimicrobial terpenoids have been identified from marine organisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, corals, sea cucumbers, and sponges. This review article provides a detailed overview of 141 terpenoids with antibacterial and/or antifungal properties derived from marine organisms between 2019 and 2024. Terpenoids, a diverse group of natural organic compounds derived from isoprene units, are systematically categorized based on their carbon skeleton structures. Comprehensive information is provided about their names, structures, biological sources, and the extent of their antibacterial and/or antifungal effectiveness. This review aims to facilitate the rapid identification and development of prospective antimicrobials in the pharmaceutical sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Natural Products as Potential Drug Leads)
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