Sustainable Use of Marine Microorganisms

The oceans cover about $71\%$ of the Earth's crust and contain nearly 300,000 described species. Free-living bacteria in the sea and symbiotic bacteria of marine invertebrates are proving to be valuable sources of useful bioactive compounds. Marine sponges, in particular, which contain diverse communities of bacteria, produce many classes of compounds that are unique to the marine environment. Uncultured microorganisms are commonly believed to represent $99.9\%$ of the whole microbial community. They have been investigated for the possibility of isolating and over-expressing genes in viable microorganisms. Strict symbiotic species that have been adapted to the host are candidate unculturable species. With the enormous potential for discovery, development, and market value of marine derived compounds, supply of the products is a major limiting factor for further development.