Aphios
has established a library of diverse marine microorganisms
that are fermented and fractionated to produce unique
marine molecules for the rapid discovery and development
of novel antiviral, antimicrobial and anticancer therapeutics.
The marine environment represents an enormous and poorly
explored resource for anti-infective and anticancer therapeutics
because of its genetic and chemical biodiversity. This
environment is also extremely diversified due to the variety
of marine habitats, depending on numerous differences
in natural salinities, temperatures and pressures. Aphios’
unique library of marine microorganisms was established
from diverse marine environments and organisms, including:
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Marine invertebrates - bryozoans, sponges, corals
and tunicates
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Marine vertebrates - shark and fish
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Hydrothermal vents and hypersaline ponds
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Deep sea sediments via submersibles
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Shallow mangrove swamps and near shore locations
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Tropical and temperate oceans
Marine microorganisms were isolated from U.S. territorial
waters and consists of 70% Gram-negatives; 10% Gram-positives
excluding actinomycetes; 10% actinomycetes; and 10% yeast
and fungi. 10% of the collection consists of obligate halophilic
bacteria. The microorganisms were characterized by the following
techniques: (i) conventional microbiology including cell
morphology, colony morphology, color, Gram-stain, motility
and substrate utilization; (ii) fatty acid methyl ester
(FAME) profiles including an in-house, expanded MIDI database
for marine microorganisms; (iii) DNA fingerprinting by the
RAPD (random amplification of polymorphic DNA) technique
utilizing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for identification
and redundancy minimization; and (iv) for certain hit marine
microorganisms, molecular taxonomy via DNA sequencing of
the 16 ssuRNA gene for similarity rank and blast comparisons
with ribosomal sequence databases.
Our scientists have developed proprietary fermentation techniques
that mimic the natural saline marine environment in order
to enhance isolation of bioactive compounds and allow large-scale
manufacture of novel therapeutics. The microorganisms (bacteria,
actinomycetes, yeasts and fungi) are fermented in at least
four different media designed to maximize the diversity
of secondary metabolites being generated prior to fractionation
into their constituent marine molecules. Microbial cells
are harvested from the fermentation media, and then fractionated
utilizing Aphios’ proprietary
SuperFluids™CXF fractionation technology.
