Potential Therapeutics Isolated from Salinispora
Introduction
Rather than designing synthetic drugs, some researchers are exploring natural sources for medical treatments or as models for future synthetic treatments. One promising source includes the recently discovered Salinispora bacteria, belonging to the order Actinomycetales (also known as actinomycetes). This order includes many species that have contributed to today’s naturally occurring antibiotics. It was originally believed that the gram positive Actinomycetales only existed in soil habitats, and that any actinomycetes found in marine environments came from spores produced by terrestrial species (1). However, in search of new actinomycetes as possible dug sources, Jensen and Fenical of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the late 1980s discovered actinomycetes that required seawater for growth (2). In 2002, the separate strains of marine origin were found in tropical and subtropical sediments, and classified under the genus Salinispora, belonging to the family Micromonosporaceae. Two species have been formally identified as Salinispora arenicola and Salinispora tropica, while a third species of Salinispora pacifica is being studied (2,3). The Salinispora bacteria have, like the rest of their order, a variety of secondary metabolites that may be useful in the pharmeceutical industry, including the proteasome inhibitor salinosporamide A, which has entered the first phase of clinical trials as a cancer treatment (4). While the functions of some Salinispora metabolites are still unknown, these bacteria may offer researchers a source of new antibiotics and cancer treating drugs.
Section 1
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Section 2
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Section 3
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Conclusion
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References
Edited by student of Joan Slonczewski for BIOL 238 Microbiology, 2009, Kenyon College.
