Marine Fungi: The Untapped Diversity of Marine Microorganisms

It has been very well established for more than half a century  that terrestrial bacteria and fungi are sources of valuable bioactive metabolites. It has also been noted that the rate at which new compounds are being discovered from traditional microbial resources, however, has diminished significantly in recent decades as exhaustive studies of soil microorganisms repeatedly yield the same species which in turn produce an unacceptably large number of previously described compounds. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect exploration of untapped marine microbial diversity and resources will improve the rates at which new classes of secondary metabolites are discovered.

Secondary metabolites of marine fungi with a wide spectrum of biological activities are known, and these can be used within a wide field of applications.The number of novel fungi isolated from marine habitats is still low as compared to their estimated high biodiversity. Very little is known about the global diversityand distribution of marine fungi. The probability of isolating fungal strains belonging to new taxonomic groups from selected marine marine habitats and from marine samples in general remains high. Overall, the number of strains available from marine sources is limited and the knowledge of marine fungi in general is scarce. Read more..............