Antimicrobial Potential of Cold-Adapted Bacteria and Fungi from Polar Regions

The discovery of novel and efficient antimicrobial compounds has become a focal point of interest for natural product chemistry. To this purpose, the exploration of unusual and underexplored sources of medically useful substances and the screening of less exploited microbial groups have been recognized as promising tools for the isolation of novel antimicrobial compounds with unique structures and specific biological activity. Many different, complex and sophisticated survival strategies, which are quite relevant for the ecology of cold-adapted microorganisms (including bacteria, cyanobacteria and fungi), might render them valuable resources also for biotechnological purposes. Cold-adapted microbial producers of antibacterial and antifungal compounds have been isolated from various aquatic and terrestrial environments in both Antarctica and the Arctic. In some cases, the microbial inhibitor compound has been extracted and (partially o fully) characterized. The versatile antimicrobial potential of microorganisms from Polar Regions is discussed in this chapter