ISMJ

Marine organisms are rich sources of bioactive compounds and their biotechnological potential attracted the attention to biologists and chemists all over the world. During the first decade of the 21st century alone, over 2000 molecules from cnidarians were described. The phylum cnidaria (corals, sea pens, sea anemones, jellyfish and hydroids) includes over 10,000 species living in aquatic habitats. Cnidarians are the oldest venomous animals. In this phylum, most toxicological studies have been done in Anthozoa. The Soft corals Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea orders of Anthozoa represent by far the highest number of species yielding promising compounds. Up to now, numerous chemical components have been isolated from cnidarians, including steroids, diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids have been shown to exhibit biological properties such as antimicrobial, antitumor activities and cytotoxicity. In this review, we summarize some studies that focus on some of the most promising marine bioactive isolated from cindirians in last decade.