Institute of Research, Development, and Innovation in Healthcare Biotechnology in Elche (IDiBE), Miguel Hernández University (UMH), 03202 Elche, Spain.
Fish Disease Research Unit, Institute for Parasitology, University of Veterinary Medicine, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
Mar Drugs. 2022 May 28;20(6):363. doi: 10.3390/md20060363.
The high proliferation of microorganisms in aquatic environments has allowed their coevolution for billions of years with other living beings that also inhabit these niches. Among the different existing types of interaction, the eternal competition for supremacy between the susceptible species and their pathogens has selected, as part of the effector division of the immune system of the former ones, a vast and varied arsenal of efficient antimicrobial molecules, which is highly amplified by the broad biodiversity radiated, above any others, at the marine habitats. At present, the great recent scientific and technological advances already allow the massive discovery and exploitation of these defense compounds for therapeutic purposes against infectious diseases of our interest. Among them, antimicrobial peptides and antimicrobial metabolites stand out because of the wide dimensions of their structural diversities, mechanisms of action, and target pathogen ranges. This revision work contextualizes the research in this field and serves as a presentation and scope identification of the Special Issue from journal "The Immune System of Marine Organisms as Source for Drugs against Infectious Diseases".
水生环境中微生物的高度增殖使它们与其他栖息在这些小生境中的生物共同进化了数十亿年。在现有的不同类型的相互作用中，易感物种与其病原体之间永恒的至高无上的竞争选择了前者免疫系统效应器分支中的大量多样的高效抗菌分子，这是由广泛的生物多样性所放大的，在海洋生境中，任何其他生物都没有如此广泛的多样性。目前，巨大的科学和技术进步已经允许大规模发现和利用这些防御化合物，用于治疗我们感兴趣的传染病。其中，抗菌肽和抗菌代谢物因其结构多样性、作用机制和靶病原体范围的广泛而引人注目。这项研究工作将该领域的研究置于上下文中，并作为期刊“海洋生物的免疫系统作为对抗传染病的药物来源”特刊的介绍和范围确定。
