Marine Antioxidants: From Chemical Ecology to Bioprospecting
A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 346
Special Issue Editor
Interests: discovery of marine sulfur-containing histidine activities; evolution of natural products biosynthesis; anti-oxidant activities; enzyme target characterization; molecular mechanisms underpinning the response and adaptation of organisms to the marine environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The extraordinary beauty of underwater landscapes reflects the huge richness in oceans’ biodiversity. This is due to millions of years of evolution and adaptation of marine life to environmental changes, as well as to the dynamic nature of marine environments, where conditions of high salinity, pressures, low and high temperatures, and lack of light have led to the biosynthesis of highly-functionalized, structurally-diverse, biologically-active compounds with unique potentials. Marine organisms, ranging from microscopic phytoplankton to many species of crustaceans, sponges, coral, echinoderms, and fish use chemicals to eat, interact, reproduce, and survive. Some of these molecules function as signals to initiate and modulate a variety of biological processes, such as metabolism. Molecules that serve such roles are typically readily diffusible organic substances of low molecular mass derived from secondary metabolic pathways.
Among these molecules, antioxidant compounds play a key role in keeping cellular redox homeostasis and mediate signaling pathways involved in reproduction and life cycle transitions. Sulfur-containing histidine, for example, are known to play pleiotropic roles in marine organisms acting as pheromones in marine worms for interspecific communication or as protective molecules from oxidative stress in sea urchins. However, they can also exert beneficial physiological functions for humans as anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative agents.
In this Special Issue, researchers are invited to provide recent results and innovative research on differents aspects related to the evolution of emergent marine antioxidants’ biosynthesis, the functional and ecological role in the ocean, biotechnological production, and the potential applications of these molecules as new drugs, dietary supplements, and healthcare products.
Dr. Immacolata CastellanoGuest 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
- Antioxidants
- Marine natural products
- Biosynthesis
- Enzyme evolution
- Marine drugs
- Dietary supplements
- Anti-aging
