title: Antifungal potential of marine natural products.
abstract: Fungal diseases represent an increasing threat to human health worldwide which in some cases might be associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. However, only few antifungal drugs are currently available for the treatment of life-threatening fungal infections. Furthermore, plant diseases caused by fungal pathogens represent a worldwide economic problem for the agriculture industry. The marine environment continues to provide structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites, several of which have inspired the development of new classes of therapeutic agents. Among these secondary metabolites, several compounds with noteworthy antifungal activities have been isolated from marine microorganisms, invertebrates, and algae. During the last fifteen years, around 65% of marine natural products possessing antifungal activities have been isolated from sponges and bacteria. This review gives an overview of natural products from diverse marine organisms that have shown in vitro and/or in vivo potential as antifungal agents, with their mechanism of action whenever applicable. The natural products literature is covered from January 2000 until June 2015, and we are reporting the chemical structures together with their biological activities, as well as the isolation source.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Radiation Research & Technology, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Ahmed El-Zomor St. 3, El-Zohoor Dist., Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ebaa M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: El-Hossary
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, 97082 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Drug Design and Optimization Department, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Saarland University, Campus E8.1, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Mostafa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hamed
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Minia University, 61519 Minia, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ashraf Nageeb
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: El-Sayed Hamed
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2/D15, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohlsen
authors.affiliation: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, RD3 Marine Microbiology, and Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hentschel
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, 97082 Würzburg, Germany; Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Minia University, 61519 Minia, Egypt. Electronic address: usama.ramadan@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Usama Ramadan
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Abdelmohsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D001688:Biological Products / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D001688:Biological Products
keywords: Antifungal activity; Fungal infections; Marine invertebrates; Marine microorganisms; Marine natural products; Secondary metabolites