New Hope From the Sea

Many of the anti-cancer and anti-microbial drugs we use today have a natural source. Penicillin was purified from a bread mold call Penicillium chrysogenum. Quinine used in the treatment of malaria was first purified from the bark of the Cinchona ledgeriana tree. Taxol an anti-breast cancer drug was obtained from the Pacific Yew tree.

A large number of the more complicated anti-microbial drugs have been obtained from bacteria in the order of Actinomycetales or actinomycetes. Drugs like streptomycin, actinomycin, and vancomycin. These bacteria as well as the trees and mold mentioned above live their lives on the land. The actinomycetes produce these drugs to protect themselves from other bacteria that might want to invade their turf and steal their food source. The trees produce these drugs to protect themselves from microbial invaders. Unfortunately, there is a limited number of organisms and plants to sample from on the land. Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of places to search on land for potentially useful drugs. However, there is a vast amount of life we are only just beginning to look at in any detail. Those life forms and their home is covered with water. The oceans cover 70% of our world and contain a rich source of microbial life that we are missing in our search for new drugs.

Not all researchers are so terrestrial-centric. A group of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego are looking to the ocean for new organisms that might be sources of anti-cancer and anti-microbial drugs. To do this they had to create many new tools to get samples of the bacteria found in the sediment at the bottom of the ocean. They also had to develop new media on which to grow the organisms.

After a lot of hard work and creative effort they have reported finding a new genus of bacteria called the Salinospora. These bacteria are members of the order Actinomycetales. To add to the excitement they have also identified a natural product produced by these organisms that is a potent inhibitor of cancer cells. This compound called salinosporamide A appears to inhibit growth of human colon carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer cells. They published their finding in the Jan. 20, 2003 issue of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie. Dr. William Fenical and his colleagues have opened a new door for exploration. Who knows what new drugs we may find lurking deep in the ocean floor!

Take Care and Think Microbiologically! For more articles on microbiology go to Suite101:Microbiology.

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