Original Articles
Gopikrishnan V., M. Radhakrish
Abstract
Development of microbial biofilms and the recruitment of propagules on the surfaces of man-made structures in the marine environment cause serious problems for the marine industries around the world. Current antifouling technology is based on the application of toxic substances that can be harmful to the natural environment. The ban of previously employed tributyltin coatings by international organizations further aggravated this issue. A bioinspired approach to address this problem constitutes the use of natural products as antifouling agents. Natural products are the promising candidate for the development of non-toxic antifoulants. Extracts, partially purified and purified metabolites from plants, microbes and marine organisms are reported as active against micro and macrofouling organisms. However, still the number of microbes explored for antifouling compounds is very less. Among the microbial resources, actinobacteria, especially those which are from marine ecosystems are less explored for antifouling compounds. In this literature review, we described the antifouling activity of extracts and compounds from bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria. There is a great opportunity to isolate promising antifouling compounds from natural resources. However the joints efforts of biologists and natural product chemists is highly warranted.