Accelerating the Discovery of Marine Natural Products with Antimicrobial activity via Bioactivity-Driven Molecular Networking
13 affiliations
- 1Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
- 2Rhodes University
- 3Department of Department of Chemistry, Jimma University, Jimma P.O. Box 95, Ethiopia
- 4South African Environmental Observation Network
- 5Elwandle Coastal Node
- 6School of Biological and Marine Sciences
- 7University of Plymouth
- 8Department of Pharmacy
- 9National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
- 10Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
- 11Sefako Makgatho Health Science University
- 12School of Biomedical Sciences
- 13South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
Abstract
The growing threat of antimicrobial resistance underscores an urgent need to investigate underexplored natural sources to provide new chemical scaffolds for drug development. Marine environments, particularly those along the South African coastline, represent reservoirs of novel chemical diversity with the potential to provide new classes of antibiotics. This study reports the development of an efficient biodiscovery pipeline for the assembly and systematic screening of marine natural products extract libraries to identify novel antimicrobial leads. The workflow integrates microbial genomics and biological screening with non-targeted high resolution tandem mass spectrometry and molecular networking. Chemical extracts of 174 sponges and tunicates collected from the South African coast were evaluated for antibacterial, cytotoxic, and in vitro enzyme inhibitory activity. Guided by molecular networkbased feature prioritization, eleven known secondary metabolites spanning four major 2 structural classes (bifunctional sphingolipids, variabilin furanosesterterpenes, topsentin bisindole and pyrrolo iminoquinone -alkaloids) were isolated. The bioactivity of the isolated compounds was consistent with their corresponding crude extracts. Computational mass spectrometry analysis of extracts with antimicrobial activity revealed additional enriched metabolite families warranting further investigation. Finally, we profiled the taxonomic diversity of sponge associated bacterial communities to assess their utility in facilitating dereplication and prioritization of species of interest for further study.
Related
- Chemical composition and antioxidant properties of selected mangrove species from the Sine Saloum Delta (Senegal) using UHPLC-MS/MS and molecular networking
- Accelerating discovery and integration from RNA to Protein with R2T2P
- Molecular-networking-based characterization of cytotoxic metabolites produced by the cyanobacterium Nostoc edaphicum CCNP1411
- A molecular networking-guided strategy for identifying anti-osteoporotic sterols from the soft coral Sclerophytum humesi
- Nephroprotective and Gastroprotective potential of Aerva javanica (L.) green synthesized nanoparticles, supported by Molecular Networking
BibTeX
@misc{kalinski2026accelerating,
title = {{Accelerating the Discovery of Marine Natural Products with Antimicrobial activity via Bioactivity-Driven Molecular Networking}},
author = {Jarmo-Charles J Kalinski and Tarryn Swart and Idris Njanje and Gabriella Solomons and Dele Abdissa Keneni and Shirley Parker-Nance and Jazmin Conway and Michelle Isaacs and Sinobomi Marwarwa and Alexandros Polyzois and Alyson Bennett and Xavier Siwe Noundou and Mathew Upton and Rosemary A Dorrington},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009629/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009629/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Accelerating the Discovery of Marine Natural Products with Antimicrobial activity via Bioactivity-Driven Molecular Networking
AU - Jarmo-Charles J Kalinski
AU - Tarryn Swart
AU - Idris Njanje
AU - Gabriella Solomons
AU - Dele Abdissa Keneni
AU - Shirley Parker-Nance
AU - Jazmin Conway
AU - Michelle Isaacs
AU - Sinobomi Marwarwa
AU - Alexandros Polyzois
AU - Alyson Bennett
AU - Xavier Siwe Noundou
AU - Mathew Upton
AU - Rosemary A Dorrington
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009629/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009629/v1
AB - The growing threat of antimicrobial resistance underscores an urgent need to investigate underexplored natural sources to provide new chemical scaffolds for drug development. Marine environments, particularly those along the South African coastline, represent reservoirs of novel chemical diversity with the potential to provide new classes of antibiotics. This study reports the development of an efficient biodiscovery pipeline for the assembly and systematic screening of marine natural products extract libraries to identify novel antimicrobial leads. The workflow integrates microbial genomics and biological screening with non-targeted high resolution tandem mass spectrometry and molecular networking. Chemical extracts of 174 sponges and tunicates collected from the South African coast were evaluated for antibacterial, cytotoxic, and in vitro enzyme inhibitory activity. Guided by molecular networkbased feature prioritization, eleven known secondary metabolites spanning four major 2 structural classes (bifunctional sphingolipids, variabilin furanosesterterpenes, topsentin bisindole and pyrrolo iminoquinone -alkaloids) were isolated. The bioactivity of the isolated compounds was consistent with their corresponding crude extracts. Computational mass spectrometry analysis of extracts with antimicrobial activity revealed additional enriched metabolite families warranting further investigation. Finally, we profiled the taxonomic diversity of sponge associated bacterial communities to assess their utility in facilitating dereplication and prioritization of species of interest for further study.
ER -