Middle-Eastern Marine Natural Products

Dear Colleagues,

Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, with the largest diversity of marine organisms concentrated in tropical seas and oceans. Such macro- and micro-organisms have distinct metabolisms, resulting in an array of secondary metabolites with potential pharmaceutical values. Indeed, just within the past quarter century, the search for new marine metabolites has resulted in the isolation of upward of 10,000 compounds, many of which exhibit biological activity. In this Special Issue of Marine Drugs, efforts to characterize marine organisms and derived natural products from the geographical region of the middle east will be investigated. This area spans from tropical to temperate climatic zones including Western Asia, as well as parts of Northern Africa and Southeastern Europe; the region includes five seas (Arabian, Black, Caspian, Mediterranean and Red) and five gulfs (Aden, Aqaba, Oman, Persian and Suez) that span approximately 15 degrees north and south of the Tropic of Cancer. Specifically, the Red Sea is an epicenter for marine biodiversity with an extremely high endemic biota including over 50 genera of coral. Despite the sea’s size and diversity of reef-associated inhabitants, marine invertebrates in this ecosystem remain under studied compared to other large coral reef systems, such as the Great Barrier Reef or the Caribbean. Researchers are invited to provide recent advances (review articles included) on the various aspects of marine compounds and extracts involving middle-east marine ecosystems.

Prof. Mohamed-Elamir F. Hegazy
Prof. Paul W. Pare
Guest Editors

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