Recent researches of bioactive metabolites in marine organisms-associated microorganisms

Recent researches have shown that some compounds isolated from marine organisms have striking structural similarities with the metabolites from known microorganisms. It is inferred from the researches that the symbiotic or associated marine microorganisms may be the true sources of those compounds or at least involved in the biosynthesizing process. This view has been further evidenced by the researches for many sponges and sponge-associated microorganisms. Importantly, growing evidence has highlighted that the symbiotic or associated marine microorganisms live in the microenvironment within the hosts, and they also produce secondary metabolites which are new and original in structure and unique in activity. All these suggest that the microorganisms associated with marine organisms are the sources with very high potential to be new natural bioactive agents. This article reviews briefly the research advances in the study of new bioactive metabolites from marine organisms-associated microorganisms since 2000.