Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis

Bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms produce a vast array of small molecules—secondary metabolites—that serve no obvious role in basic growth yet have proven to be among the most productive sources of antibiotics, anticancer agents, and other medicines in the pharmacological toolkit. Researchers in this area work to identify, characterize, and ultimately harness those compounds, drawing on genome sequencing to locate biosynthetic gene clusters that may encode entirely unknown chemical structures. A central challenge is that the majority of microbial biosynthetic capacity remains cryptic under standard laboratory conditions, leaving open the question of how to reliably activate silent gene clusters and translate genomic data into actual compounds. Underexplored ecological niches—deep-sea sediments, marine invertebrates, and the tissues of endophytic fungi living inside plants—are now receiving particular attention as potential reservoirs of structural novelty at a time when resistance to existing antibiotics is accelerating the need for new leads.

Works

429,816

Total citations

1,682,848

Keywords

Natural ProductsDrug DiscoverySecondary MetabolitesAntibioticsMicrobial MetabolitesGenome Sequencing