Giant Marine Cyanobacteria Produce Exciting Potential Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Our standard procedure for collecting specimens of tropical marine cyanobacteria as potential sources for novel pharmaceuticals requires some of us to dive about 15 meters below the surface and 1 meter above the tropical sea floor, scanning the underwater landscape for giant colonies of marine cyanobacteria. In such settings, benthic cyanobacteria grow as nearly pure strains—forming tufts, mucilages, and mats that adhere to coral, algae, and marine invertebrate substrates (Fig. 1).