Asian Journal of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

The search for new antibacterial compounds using sources derived from marine biota is interesting to develop, considering that Indonesia has diversity of a very large microorganisms and has the potential to produce antibacterial substances. One of the microbial resources that has not been widely exploited is the microorganisms present in deep sea sediments. The deep sea has variations in the availability of nutrients, light, oxygen, concentration, pressure, salinity, and temperature. This condition also triggers marine microorganisms to develop unique physiological abilities. The physiological ability of deep sea microorganisms not only to survive, but also has an impact on their ability to produce unique metabolites that are not owned by terrestrial microorganisms. Here we will review some reported study on the search of antibacterial compounds from microorganisms isolated from the deep sea sediment. The fundamental basic of antibacterial will be discussed followed by several reported antibacterial compounds from the sediment bacteria. This opens door for the search of new microorganisms that produced new chemical compounds with beneficial application in human health as well as in other field.