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Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi

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A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2017) | Viewed by 35561

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vassilios Roussis

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Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 157 72 Athens, Greece
Interests: biomedical applications; electrospinning; nanofibers; hybrid materials; marine biopolymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Efstathia Ioannou

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Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 157 72 Athens, Greece
Interests: isolation; structure elucidation; marine natural products; marine biopolymers; marine-derived microorganisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The identification of compounds that can become lead molecules towards the development of new drugs require the highest possible number of chemical entities. Biotransformations are generally accepted as a useful tool for the preparation of new derivatives with biological activity or of industrial interest.

Microbial transformations can include oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, carbon–carbon bond formation, addition and elimination, halogenation, dehalogenation, as well as glycosidic transfer reactions. They are performed under mild and environmentally friendly conditions and are simple to manipulate in order to maximize their efficiency and they have the advantage of being regio- and stereoselective.

Marine and marine-derived bacteria and fungi have in the last decades been proven a rich source of new bioactive metabolites and in some cases efficient in the alteration of structural architecture of marine and terrestrial and synthetic molecules alike. Contributions reporting the production of bioactive molecules via modifications induced by marine/marine-derived bacteria and fungi are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Vassilios Roussis
Dr. Efstathia Ioannou
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 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

biotransformation
marine/marine derived bacteria
marine/marine derived fungi
structure elucidation
biological activity
structure-activity relationship studies

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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3494 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization and Genome Analysis of a Nicotine and Nicotinic Acid-Degrading Strain Pseudomonas putida JQ581 Isolated from Marine

by Aiwen Li, Jiguo Qiu, Dongzhi Chen, Jiexu Ye, Yuhong Wang, Lu Tong, Jiandong Jiang and Jianmeng Chen

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(6), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15060156 - 31 May 2017

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4777

Abstract

The presence of nicotine and nicotinic acid (NA) in the marine environment has caused great harm to human health and the natural environment. Therefore, there is an urgent need to use efficient and economical methods to remove such pollutants from the environment. In this study, a nicotine and NA-degrading bacterium—strain JQ581—was isolated from sediment from the East China Sea and identified as a member of Pseudomonas putida based on morphology, physio-biochemical characteristics, and 16S rDNA gene analysis. The relationship between growth and nicotine/NA degradation suggested that strain JQ581 was a good candidate for applications in the bioaugmentation treatment of nicotine/NA contamination. The degradation intermediates of nicotine are pseudooxynicotine (PN) and 3-succinoyl-pyridine (SP) based on UV, high performance liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. However, 6-hydroxy-3-succinoyl-pyridine (HSP) was not detected. NA degradation intermediates were identified as 6-hydroxynicotinic acid (6HNA). The whole genome of strain JQ581 was sequenced and analyzed. Genome sequence analysis revealed that strain JQ581 contained the gene clusters for nicotine and NA degradation. This is the first report where a marine-derived Pseudomonas strain had the ability to degrade nicotine and NA simultaneously. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi)

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7519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prospecting Biotechnologically-Relevant Monooxygenases from Cold Sediment Metagenomes: An In Silico Approach

by Matías A. Musumeci, Mariana Lozada, Daniela V. Rial, Walter P. Mac Cormack, Janet K. Jansson, Sara Sjöling, JoLynn Carroll and Hebe M. Dionisi

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(4), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15040114 - 09 Apr 2017

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5890

Abstract

The goal of this work was to identify sequences encoding monooxygenase biocatalysts with novel features by in silico mining an assembled metagenomic dataset of polar and subpolar marine sediments. The targeted enzyme sequences were Baeyer–Villiger and bacterial cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP153). These enzymes have wide-ranging applications, from the synthesis of steroids, antibiotics, mycotoxins and pheromones to the synthesis of monomers for polymerization and anticancer precursors, due to their extraordinary enantio-, regio-, and chemo- selectivity that are valuable features for organic synthesis. Phylogenetic analyses were used to select the most divergent sequences affiliated to these enzyme families among the 264 putative monooxygenases recovered from the ~14 million protein-coding sequences in the assembled metagenome dataset. Three-dimensional structure modeling and docking analysis suggested features useful in biotechnological applications in five metagenomic sequences, such as wide substrate range, novel substrate specificity or regioselectivity. Further analysis revealed structural features associated with psychrophilic enzymes, such as broader substrate accessibility, larger catalytic pockets or low domain interactions, suggesting that they could be applied in biooxidations at room or low temperatures, saving costs inherent to energy consumption. This work allowed the identification of putative enzyme candidates with promising features from metagenomes, providing a suitable starting point for further developments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi)

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Graphical abstract

639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lindane Bioremediation Capability of Bacteria Associated with the Demosponge Hymeniacidon perlevis

by Stabili Loredana, Pizzolante Graziano, Morgante Antonio, Nonnis Marzano Carlotta, Longo Caterina, Aresta Antonella Maria, Zambonin Carlo, Corriero Giuseppe and Alifano Pietro

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(4), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15040108 - 06 Apr 2017

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5635

Abstract

Lindane is an organochlorine pesticide belonging to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that has been widely used to treat agricultural pests. It is of particular concern because of its toxicity, persistence and tendency to bioaccumulate in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this context, we assessed the role of bacteria associated with the sponge Hymeniacidon perlevis in lindane degradation. Seven bacteria isolates were characterized and identified. These isolates showed a remarkable capacity to utilize lindane as a sole carbon source leading to a percentage of residual lindane ranging from 3% to 13% after 12 days of incubation with the pesticide. The lindane metabolite, 1,3–6-pentachloro-cyclohexene, was identified as result of lindane degradation and determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The bacteria capable of lindane degradation were identified on the basis of the phenotypic characterization by morphological, biochemical and cultural tests, completed with 16S rDNA sequence analysis, and assigned to Mameliella phaeodactyli, Pseudovibrio ascidiaceicola, Oceanicaulis stylophorae, Ruegeria atlantica and to three new uncharacterized species. The results obtained are a prelude to the development of future strategies for the in situ bioremediation of lindane. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi)

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1650 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Biotransformation and Detoxification of Xylidine Orange Dye Using Immobilized Cells of Marine-Derived Lysinibacillus sphaericus D3

by Prabha Devi, Solimabi Wahidullah, Farhan Sheikh, Rochelle Pereira, Niteen Narkhede, Divya Amonkar, Supriya Tilvi and Ram Murthy Meena

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(2), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15020030 - 08 Feb 2017

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4999

Abstract

Lysinibacillus sphaericus D3 cell-immobilized beads in natural gel sodium alginate decolorized the xylidine orange dye 1-(dimethylphenylazo)-2-naphthol-6-sulfonic acid sodium salt in the laboratory. Optimal conditions were selected for decolorization and the products formed were evaluated for toxicity by disc diffusion assay against common marine bacteria which revealed the non-toxic nature of the dye-degraded products. Decolorization of the brightly colored dye to colorless products was measured on an Ultra Violet-Vis spectrophotometer and its biodegradation products monitored on Thin Layer Chromatographic plate and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Finally, the metabolites formed in the decolorized medium were characterized by mass spectrometry. This analysis confirms the conversion of the parent molecule into lower molecular weight aromatic phenols and sulfonic acids as the final products of biotransformation. Based on the results, the probable degradation products of xylidine orange were naphthol, naphthylamine-6-sulfonic acid, 2-6-dihydroxynaphthalene, and bis-dinaphthylether. Thus, it may be concluded that the degradation pathway of the dye involved (a) reduction of its azo group by azoreductase enzyme (b) dimerization of the hydrazo compound followed by (c) degradation of monohydrazo as well as dimeric metabolites into low molecular weight aromatics. Finally, it may be worth exploring the possibility of commercially utilizing L. sphaericus D3 for industrial applications for treating large-scale dye waste water. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi)

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Review

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1440 KiB

Open AccessReview

Marine Microbial-Derived Molecules and Their Potential Use in Cosmeceutical and Cosmetic Products

by Cinzia Corinaldesi, Giulio Barone, Francesca Marcellini, Antonio Dell’Anno and Roberto Danovaro

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(4), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15040118 - 12 Apr 2017

Cited by 112 | Viewed by 13428

Abstract

The oceans encompass a wide range of habitats and environmental conditions, which host a huge microbial biodiversity. The unique characteristics of several marine systems have driven a variety of biological adaptations, leading to the production of a large spectrum of bioactive molecules. Fungi, fungi-like protists (such as thraustochytrids) and bacteria are among the marine organisms with the highest potential of producing bioactive compounds, which can be exploited for several commercial purposes, including cosmetic and cosmeceutical ones. Mycosporines and mycosporine-like amino acids, carotenoids, exopolysaccharides, fatty acids, chitosan and other compounds from these microorganisms might represent a sustainable, low-cost and fast-production alternative to other natural molecules used in photo-protective, anti-aging and skin-whitening products for face, body and hair care. Here, we review the existing knowledge of these compounds produced by marine microorganisms, highlighting the marine habitats where such compounds are preferentially produced and their potential application in cosmetic and cosmeceutical fields. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotransformations Utilizing Marine/Marine-Derived Bacteria and Fungi)

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