Marine microbial metabolites: A new wave of drugs for combating antimicrobial resistance

The steady increase in the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria amongst medical centers, environment, animals, and food is of major concern for health care professionals. Most of the currently used mainline antibacterial drugs were discovered during the golden era of antibiotic discovery (1950-60). During this period, many natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic molecules were screened for their antimicrobial potential against a spectrum of clinical pathogens. Nevertheless, there was a gap of forty long years until the release of a newer class of antibiotics in the market. It is very vital to develop an integrated approach to combat antimicrobial resistance. There has been a paradigm shift in the field of marine drug discovery in the last two decades. Bioactive metabolites derived from the marine ecosystem are known to exhibit a wide array of pharmacological activity than the terrestrial source. Among all marine organisms, secondary metabolites derived from microbes are the most underexplored natural source. Screening of marine microbes for various antimicrobial molecules has become a noteworthy trend in marine drug discovery and provides a ray of hope for combating antimicrobial resistance.