Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov 26;9(12):1183.
doi: 10.3390/antiox9121183.

Antioxidant Molecules from Marine Fungi: Methodologies and Perspectives

Giovanni Andrea Vitale  1 , Daniela Coppola  2   3 , Fortunato Palma Esposito  2 , Carmine Buonocore  1 , Janardhan Ausuri  1 , Emiliana Tortorella  1 , Donatella de Pascale  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Antioxidant Molecules from Marine Fungi: Methodologies and Perspectives

Giovanni Andrea Vitale et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

The marine environment represents a prosperous existing resource for bioprospecting, covering 70% of the planet earth, and hosting a huge biodiversity. Advances in the research are progressively uncovering the presence of unknown microorganisms, which have evolved unique metabolic and genetic pathways for the production of uncommon secondary metabolites. Fungi have a leading role in marine bioprospecting since they represent a prolific source of structurally diverse bioactive metabolites. Several bioactive compounds from marine fungi have already been characterized including antibiotics, anticancer, antioxidants and antivirals. Nowadays, the search for natural antioxidant molecules capable of replacing those synthetic currently used, is an aspect that is receiving significant attention. Antioxidants can inactivate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, preventing the insurgence of several degenerative diseases including cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, they also find applications in different fields, including food preservation, healthcare and cosmetics. This review focuses on the production of antioxidants from marine fungi. We begin by proposing a survey of the available tools suitable for the evaluation of antioxidants, followed by the description of various classes of marine fungi antioxidants together with their extraction strategies. In addition, a view of the future perspectives and trends of these natural products within the "blue economy" is also presented.

Keywords: Antioxidants; applications; extraction protocols; fungi; marine natural products.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Some marine fungal metabolites with antioxidant properties in rappresentance of various chemical classes, respectively: (a) cordyol (phenolic compounds) C, (b) aspergilol (anthraquinones) A, (c) euroxanthone (xanthones), (d) mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside (amino acids derivatives), (e) astaxanthin (carotenoids), (f) AS2-1 (carbohydrates).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scheme for the isolation and purification of exopolysaccharides produced by marine fungi.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lauritano C., Ianora A. Grand Challenges in Marine Biotechnology. Springer; Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany: 2018. Grand Challenges in Marine Biotechnology: Overview of Recent EU-Funded Projects; pp. 425–449.
    1. Zinger L., Amaral-Zettler L.A., Fuhrman J.A., Horner-Devine M.C., Huse S.M., Welch D.B., Martiny J.B., Sogin M., Boetius A., Ramette A. Global patterns of bacterial beta-diversity in seafloor and seawater ecosystems. PLoS ONE. 2011;6:e24570. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024570. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blunt J.W., Carroll A.R., Copp B.R., Davis R.A., Keyzers R.A., Prinsep M.R. Marine natural products. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2018;35:8–53. doi: 10.1039/C7NP00052A. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Giordano D., Coppola D., Russo R., Denaro R., Giuliano L., Lauro F.M., di Prisco G., Verde C. Marine Microbial Secondary Metabolites: Pathways, Evolution and Physiological Roles. Adv. Microb. Physiol. 2015;66:357–428. - PubMed
    1. Bhatnagar I., Kim S.K. Immense essence of excellence: Marine microbial bioactive compounds. Mar. Drugs. 2010;8:2673–2701. doi: 10.3390/md8102673. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources