Diversity of Marine Actinomycetes - A Review

Marine Actinomycetes is one of the major emerging areas of research in tropics. Marine actinomycetes occur on the sediments and in water and also other biomass (mangrove) and substrates (animal). These organisms are gaining importance not only for their taxonomic and eco- logical perspectives, but also for their unique metabolites and enzymes. Actinomycetes have been looked upon as potential sources of bioactive compounds, and the work done earlier has shown that these microbes are the richest sources of secondary metabolites. They hold a prominent position as targets in screening programs due to their diversity and their proven ability to produce novel metabolites and other molecules of pharmaceutical importance. This great diversity of marine actinomycetes has offered greater chemical diversity. The diverse chemical compounds of marine actinomycetes have been found to have various biological activities such as antimicrobial, anti-tumor, anti-malarial, anti-algal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory etc. These various bioactive metabolites of marine actinomycetes are having scope for developing as potent therapeutic agents. The potential of marine actinomycetes is rightly realized though the current biological wealth of these organisms is relatively unexplored.