Marine drugs--macrolactins

The increasing demands for new lead compounds in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries have driven scientists to search for new bioactive natural products. Marine microorganisms are rich sources of novel, bioactive secondary metabolites, and have attracted much attention of chemists, pharmacologists, and molecular biologists. This mini-review mainly focuses on macrolactins, a group of 24-membered lactone marine natural products, aiming at giving an overview on their sources, structures, biological activities, as well as their potential medical applications.