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Review
. 2025 Aug 15:16:1634207.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1634207. eCollection 2025.

Exploring omics strategies for drug discovery from Actinomycetota isolated from the marine ecosystem

Manik Prabhu Narsing Rao  1 , Syed Raziuddin Quadri  2 , Manda Sathish  3 , Ngoc Tung Quach  4 , Wen-Jun Li  5   6 , Arinthip Thamchaipenet  5   7
Affiliations
Review

Exploring omics strategies for drug discovery from Actinomycetota isolated from the marine ecosystem

Manik Prabhu Narsing Rao et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Marine Actinomycetota are prolific producers of diverse bioactive secondary metabolites, making them vital for drug discovery. Traditional cultivation and bioassay-guided isolation techniques often lead to the rediscovery of the same compounds, revealing the limitations of these traditional approaches and emphasizing the need for more advanced methods. The emergence of omics technologies such as genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics has dramatically enhanced the ability to investigate microorganisms by providing detailed insights into their biosynthetic gene clusters, metabolic pathways, and regulatory mechanisms. These comprehensive tools facilitate the discovery and functional analysis of new bioactive compounds by revealing the genetic blueprints underlying their biosynthesis. Omics and function-driven techniques like heterologous expression, analytical techniques (including high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy), and culture condition optimization have enabled access to previously silent or cryptic gene clusters, expanding the chemical diversity available for exploration. This review emphasizes the integration of omics-based insights with function-driven methodologies and innovative culture techniques, forming a holistic approach to unlock the extensive biosynthetic capabilities of marine Actinomycetota. Combining these strategies holds great promise for discovering new marine-derived compounds with potential therapeutic applications.

Keywords: culture-independent analysis; drug discovery; marine Actinomycetota; marine ecosystem; omics approaches.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Genome and analytical approaches for the detection of new bioactive molecules from marine Actinomycetota.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Metagenomics and transcriptomics approaches for the detection of new bioactive molecules from marine Actinomycetota.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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