Beijing: Chinese marine scientists have discovered that the deep sea is rich in unknown microbial products that have the potential to be used in pharmaceutical production.
The microbial community in the cold deep sea thrives on the geological growth of hydrocarbons and inorganic compounds for sustenance, in stark contrast to the sunlight-dependent ecosystems humans are more familiar with on Earth.
This little-known natural product is believed to have powerful antimicrobial properties that could be a game-changer in the fight against drug-resistant infections.
A team of scientists led by researchers from the Department of Natural Resources Third Institute of Oceanography analyzed 22 sediment cores from nine cold locations and found BGCs natural product-encoding from 63 archaeal and bacterial phyta.
According to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, most of the BGCs found are likely to encode antimicrobial compounds that serve as chemical weapons for defense and competition between microbes.
The discovery opens the way to identify unknown antimicrobial compounds and other drugs, the researchers said.
Scientists find untapped pharmaceutical resources deep undersea
