Bioprocess and Bioproduct Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;672:88-101. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-5979-9_7.
Marine environment occupies the vast majority of the earth's surface and is a rich source of highly potent and active compounds. In recent years, microbial surfactants and emulsifiers have been reported from marine microflora. Surfactant and emulsifier molecules having diverse chemical nature such as exopolysaccharides, carbohydrate-lipid-protein complexes or glycolipopeptide, glycolipids, lipopeptides, phospholipids and ornithine lipids have been reported from various marine bacteria. These surface-active agents have been found to possess good emulsification and stabilization potentials for various lipophilic compounds such as aliphatic, aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons and their uptake and degradation by the microorganisms. Few biosurfactant types such as glycolipids and lipopeptides have also been found to possess valuable biological activities. Surface-active agents from marine environments thus have tremendous potential to be used in industrial processes, for environmental remediation and as drugs.
海洋环境占据了地球表面的绝大部分，是具有高活性和强效化合物的丰富来源。近年来，海洋微生物区系中已经报道了微生物表面活性剂和乳化剂。从各种海洋细菌中已经报道了具有不同化学性质的表面活性剂和乳化剂分子，如胞外多糖、碳水化合物-脂质-蛋白质复合物或糖肽、糖脂、脂肽、磷脂和腐胺脂质。这些表面活性剂已被发现对各种亲脂性化合物（如脂肪族、芳香族和多环芳烃）具有良好的乳化和稳定潜力，并且微生物可以吸收和降解这些化合物。一些生物表面活性剂，如糖脂和脂肽，也具有有价值的生物学活性。因此，海洋环境中的表面活性剂具有巨大的潜力，可用于工业过程、环境修复和药物领域。
