Diketopiperazine derivatives from a Tropical Sponge Associated Marine Actinomycete

Abstract

Marine organisms are a recognized source of novel metabolites with valuable biological properties and molecular diversity. Marine organisms have evolved with unique metabolic and physiological capabilities to adapt themselves to extreme habitats. They produce the potent bioactive compounds that would not be observed from terrestrial microorganisms. From the fact that actinomycetes isolated from marine organism are promising sources for secondary metabolites such as antibiotic substances, we have focused our exploration of the isolation, structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from marine microorganisms. In our ongoing research to develop the biomedical potential of marine actinomycetes, we isolated four compounds of proline based cyclic dipeptides, diketopiperazines (DKPs), previous studies. DKPs have been shown to exhibit antitumor activity, antimicrobial activity, quorum sensing signal, inhibition against aflatoxin production, plant growth promotion and other activities.