Review

. 2023 Aug 3;21(8):439.

doi: 10.3390/md21080439.

Review of Marine Cyanobacteria and the Aspects Related to Their Roles: Chemical, Biological Properties, Nitrogen Fixation and Climate Change

Hesham R El-Seedi^{1

2

3

4}, Mohamed F El-Mallah⁴, Nermeen Yosri^{5

6}, Muaaz Alajlani⁷, Chao Zhao⁸, Muhammad A Mehmood⁹, Ming Du¹⁰, Hammad Ullah¹¹, Maria Daglia^{1

11}, Zhiming Guo⁶, Shaden A M Khalifa^{1

12}, Qiyang Shou¹³

Affiliations

¹ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
² International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-Products Processing, Jiangsu University, Jiangsu Education Department, Nanjing 210024, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah 42351, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
⁵ Chemistry Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (RIMAP), Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62514, Egypt.
⁶ China Light Industry Key Laboratory of Food Intelligent Detection & Processing, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
⁷ Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Sham Private University, Damascus 0100, Syria.
⁸ College of Marine Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁹ Bioenergy Research Center, Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
¹⁰ School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacy, University of Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy.
¹² Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Capio Saint Göran's Hospital, Sankt Göransplan 1, 112 19 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Second Clinical Medical College, Jinhua Academy, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China.

PMID: 37623720
PMCID: PMC10456358
DOI: 10.3390/md21080439

Review

Review of Marine Cyanobacteria and the Aspects Related to Their Roles: Chemical, Biological Properties, Nitrogen Fixation and Climate Change

Hesham R El-Seedi et al. Mar Drugs. 2023.

. 2023 Aug 3;21(8):439.

doi: 10.3390/md21080439.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
² International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-Products Processing, Jiangsu University, Jiangsu Education Department, Nanjing 210024, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah 42351, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
⁵ Chemistry Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (RIMAP), Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62514, Egypt.
⁶ China Light Industry Key Laboratory of Food Intelligent Detection & Processing, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
⁷ Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Sham Private University, Damascus 0100, Syria.
⁸ College of Marine Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁹ Bioenergy Research Center, Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
¹⁰ School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacy, University of Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy.
¹² Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Capio Saint Göran's Hospital, Sankt Göransplan 1, 112 19 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Second Clinical Medical College, Jinhua Academy, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China.

PMID: 37623720
PMCID: PMC10456358
DOI: 10.3390/md21080439

Abstract

Marine cyanobacteria are an ancient group of photosynthetic microbes dating back to 3.5 million years ago. They are prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. Over millions of years, natural selection has optimized their metabolites to possess activities impacting various biological targets. This paper discusses the historical and existential records of cyanobacteria, and their role in understanding the evolution of marine cyanobacteria through the ages. Recent advancements have focused on isolating and screening bioactive compounds and their respective medicinal properties, and we also discuss chemical property space and clinical trials, where compounds with potential pharmacological effects, such as cytotoxicity, anticancer, and antiparasitic properties, are highlighted. The data have shown that about 43% of the compounds investigated have cytotoxic effects, and around 8% have anti-trypanosome activity. We discussed the role of different marine cyanobacteria groups in fixing nitrogen percentages on Earth and their outcomes in fish productivity by entering food webs and enhancing productivity in different agricultural and ecological fields. The role of marine cyanobacteria in the carbon cycle and their outcomes in improving the efficiency of photosynthetic CO₂ fixation in the chloroplasts of crop plants, thus enhancing the crop plant's yield, was highlighted. Ultimately, climate changes have a significant impact on marine cyanobacteria where the temperature rises, and CO₂ improves the cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation.

Keywords: climate change; clinical trials; historical record; marine cyanobacteria; nitrogen fixation; secondary metabolites.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Timeline of the different cyanobacterial fossils recorded through different eras, mainly over the period ranging from 2500 to 542 million years ago, using a geological time scale.

**Figure 2**
Flowchart showing classes of screened bioactive compounds and their derivatives.

**Figure 3**
Flowchart reporting percentage of each pharmacological target for screened compounds in the last six years.

**Scheme 1**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with cytotoxicity targets.

**Scheme 2**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with anti-trypansomal activity.

**Scheme 3**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with serine proteases inhibitory effect.

**Scheme 4**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with antiproliferative and anticancer activity.

**Scheme 5**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with anti-quorum-sensing activity.

**Scheme 6**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with antibacterial activity.

**Scheme 7**
Structures of isolated cyanobacterial compounds from 2017 to 2022 with different activities.

**Figure 4**
Chemical property Space for cyanobacterial bioactive compounds constructed in three dimensions: PC1 (x = red), PC2 (y = yellow), and PC3 (green).

**Figure 5**
Flowchart for the different types of nitrogen-fixative cyanobacteria with their mechanisms of action.

**Figure 6**
Flow chart explaining the carbon cycle in marine cyanobacteria.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Review of Marine Cyanobacteria and the Aspects Related to Their Roles: Chemical, Biological Properties, Nitrogen Fixation and Climate Change

Affiliations

Review of Marine Cyanobacteria and the Aspects Related to Their Roles: Chemical, Biological Properties, Nitrogen Fixation and Climate Change

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical