Mariculture of marine sponges for drug development : bioactivity potentials of cultured sponges, Callyspongia subarmigera (Ridley) and Echinodictyum gorgonoides (Dendy)

Abstract

Among all metazoan phyla, marine sponges are considered as the richest source of biologically and pharmacologically active chemicals. More than 5,300 different products are recorded from sponges and their associated microorganisms. Every year, about 200 new metabolites are reported from sponges. Considering the emerging diseases and the rapid development of disease resistance among microbes, the detection of novel metabolites from sponges gains importance and also provides scope for developing new drugs against disease causing bacteria, virus, fungi and parasites. In nature, the chemical interactions in the marine habitat of sponges suggest that products from them function as defense tools to protect them against predators including fish. Sponge product ara-A (vidarabine), the anti-viral drug used against the Herpes simplex encephalitis virus has advanced to the late stages of clinical trials.