Examining the Function of Metabolites Generated from Cyanobacteria as Antimicrobial Agents from a 21st-Century Perspective

The Underexplored Genus Microbispora: A Treasure Trove of Secondary Metabolites with Diverse Chemistry, Potent Bioactivities, and Biosynthetic Insights

Rare actinomycetes have emerged as important yet underexplored reservoirs for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Microbispora, a genus of rare actinomycetes, is widely distributed across diverse ecological niches, including terrestrial soils, marine-associated environments, plant-associated ecosystems, and insect-derived environments. To date, 81 secondary metabolites have been reported from this genus, encompassing quinones, chromones and chromanones, macrolides, other polyketides, alkaloids, peptides and diketopiperazines, and miscellaneous structural classes. These metabolites display antimicrobial, anticancer, neuroprotective, antiviral, plant growth-promoting, and enzyme inhibitory activities. Beyond systematically cataloging these compounds, this review provides an integrated analysis of their structure–activity relationships (SAR), biosynthetic origins, and biological significance. In addition, the biosynthetic potential of Microbispora is discussed based on reported genomic studies, highlighting the presence of numerous predicted and poorly characterized biosynthetic gene clusters. This review provides an integrative perspective on Microbispora as an underexplored but promising source of structurally diverse and bioactive natural products for drug discovery.

Endophytic fungi: Nature's hidden vault of biomolecules

The alarming rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has emerged as a major global health concern, intensifying the urgent need for novel bioactive compounds from natural sources. In recent years, scientific interest in endophytic fungi, which reside asymptomatically within plant tissues, has grown substantially. These microorganisms have demonstrated the capacity to produce a diverse range of bioactive secondary metabolites, exhibiting anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. The metabolites exhibit antibacterial activity by disrupting membranes and interfering with essential cellular processes like protein and nucleic acid synthesis. Such compounds hold immense promise for both drug discovery and the development of agricultural biocontrol agents. The role of fungal endophytes in pharmaceutical innovation is becoming increasingly apparent. The unique microenvironment within plant hosts, coupled with the genetic diversity of endophytic fungi, fosters the biosynthesis of structurally novel and biologically potent molecules. However, harnessing this potential is not without challenges. Difficulties in isolating, culturing and characterising endophytic fungi and their metabolites continue to impede progress. Artificial intelligence, omics technologies, and metabolic engineering could be integrated into future research to improve the sustainable production and therapeutic utilisation of endophytic fungal metabolites. This review highlights recent advances in the discovery and characterisation of novel compounds from endophytic fungi, while also addressing ongoing challenges in understanding endophyte biology and optimising metabolite production.

Exploring halophilic microorganisms for novel antimicrobial discovery: molecular mechanisms and computational approaches.

Surfactin-like lipopeptides contribute to interference competition of Bacillus velezensis against the marine Flavobacteriaceae in phycosphere.

This study demonstrates that Bacillus velezensis SPE2, a low-abundance isolate from the phycosphere of dinoflagellate, exhibits a wide degree of antagonistic activity against multiple marine Flavobacteriaceae strains, a dominant taxonomic group across the phycosphere of diverse phytoplankton species.

Microorganisms of Technological Interest: A Critical Review of Diversity, Metabolites and Biotechnological Uses

Microorganisms underpin a large fraction of modern food processing, industrial biotechnology, biopharmaceutical production, environmental remediation and agricultural biostimulation, yet the expression 'microorganisms of technological interest' often groups together biologically dissimilar organisms on the basis of use rather than shared taxonomy. This critical narrative review examines how microbial diversity, metabolic repertoire and process phenotype jointly determine technological value. The literature was selected through live searches of multidisciplinary and field-specific scholarly sources, with emphasis on peer-reviewed work concerning industrial bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, archaea, cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microalgae. The synthesis shows that no universal microbial chassis is optimal across products. Fast-growing model organisms offer mature genetic tools, whereas non-conventional hosts can provide superior secretion, redox balance, precursor supply, substrate range or stress tolerance. Primary metabolites such as organic and amino acids illustrate mature fermentation logic, while enzymes, recombinant proteins, natural products, pigments, vitamins, biosurfactants and polyhydroxyalkanoates reveal stronger dependence on host-specific physiology and downstream recovery. Food fermentations and microbiome-based processes further demonstrate that technological function may emerge from stable communities rather than single strains. Across sectors, laboratory titre or yield is an incomplete predictor of industrial success because large-scale gradients, genetic stability, morphology, contamination control, feedstock variability, product toxicity and purification costs frequently dominate process performance. The most defensible direction for the field is therefore phenotype-to-process matching: selecting or engineering microorganisms in relation to the complete manufacturing chain rather than treating strain optimisation as an isolated metabolic problem. Future progress will depend on better non-model genetic toolkits, function-resolved community design, scale-down experimentation, dynamic control, rigorous safety assessment and integrated techno-economic and environmental evaluation. The review concludes that microbial diversity is technologically valuable when converted into predictable, robust and recoverable function at relevant scale.

Secondary metabolism in Irpex lacteus (Fr.) Fr.: biosynthetic logic and redox integration.

Irpex lacteus is a metabolically versatile white-rot fungus capable of producing a wide range of structurally diverse secondary metabolites, including terpenoids, phenolics, steroids, peptides, and polysaccharides. Many of these compounds exhibit notable biological activities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective effects, highlighting their potential relevance to food chemistry and agricultural applications. Owing to its highly efficient ligninolytic enzyme system and flexible secondary metabolic network, I. lacteus has emerged as a promising biological platform for lignocellulose valorization, microbial biotransformation, and the discovery of functional food ingredients and natural preservatives. In recent years, significant progress has been made in elucidating the chemical diversity and biosynthetic logic of its characteristic metabolites, particularly tremulane-type sesquiterpenoids with unusual skeletal rearrangements. This review systematically summarizes 226 secondary metabolites reported from I. lacteus, covering their chemical classification, biosynthetic features, biotransformation capabilities, and biological activities. Special emphasis is placed on advances enabled by genome mining, heterologous expression, and co-culture strategies that activate cryptic biosynthetic pathways. Finally, the potential applications of I. lacteus metabolites in agriculture, food chemistry, and sustainable bioprocessing are discussed, and future perspectives based on multi-omics integration and metabolic engineering are proposed.