Insights into bioactive microbial natural products and drug discovery

Abstract

Recently, natural products have attracted much attention as a valuable source for the discovery of new and potential lead compounds with widely diverse biological activities. Among all-natural product sources, microorganisms emerged as a potential pipeline for new drug leads and new chemical entities with promising biomedical applications. Since the discovery of the first bioactive microbial product, penicillin, the exploitation of microorganisms has led to the production of a variety of natural products ranging from alcohol to antibiotics with multiple applications, including inhibition of infectious diseases such as (antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral) and noninfectious diseases like obesity, some kinds of diarrhea, cancer, anemia, atopic dermatitis, and diabetes. In this review, we aim to highlight the current literature describing the bioactive microbial natural products, produced by bacteria, fungi, and algae, which have distinct chemical structures that may serve as a robust platform for drug discovery inspiration.