Antibiofilm Metabolites from Sponge-Derived Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium for the Antibiotic Pipeline

Antibacterial resistance has recently been a huge burden on the pharmaceutical industry and a global threat to human’s health. Biofilm formation is a complex group of one or more microorganisms grouped together forming an extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix that restricts the effectivity of antimicrobial compounds causing bacterial resistance infections. The discovery of new antibiofilm agents to serve us in the antibiotic pipeline is in huge demand as an increasing number of pathogenic bacteria are no longer responding to current antibiotics, resulting in less efficient treatment of infections. The marine environment is a novel source of thousands of natural products that possess various biological activities. Marine sponges are optimal sources for unique chemical scaffolding associated with symbiotic interactions. Marine sponges and their symbionts account for about 30% of the compounds discovered in the past few decades. This literature review will delve into fungal metabolites extracted from sponge-derived Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium from 2007 to 2022 covering their antibiotics and antibiofilm potentials. Metabolites collected from various locations could be unique to the collection location due to external factors, such as temperature, pH, salinity, and predators. This review chapter explores the impact of both geographical region and environmental conditions on secondary metabolite production and briefly outlines the current methods used for bioprospecting new antimicrobial agents. Current literature has shown the vast potential of sponge-derived fungal metabolites as potential novel antibiotics to combat the imminent threat of antibiotic resistance globally. Marine sponges are still relatively unexplored and have not been fully utilised as a latent source of new scaffolding and approaches to create novel antibiotics.