ABSTRACT
The penicillin from the lamentous fungus Penicillium notatum was discovered by Fleming in 1929. It had a great effect on the investigation of nature as a source of new bioactive agents (Bennett and Chung 2001). For the past 50 years, antibiotics have trans-gured medicine by providing cures for formerly life-threatening diseases. However, strains of bacteria and fungi have recently emerged as virtually unresponsive to antibiotics. Such multidrug resistance arising through antibiotic misuse is recognized as a lifethreatening problem worldwide. The condition is exacerbated by the fact that no novel
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................9 2.2 Bioactive compounds from microorganisms ................................................................... 10
2.2.1 Bioactive compounds from bacteria ...................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Secondary metabolites of fungi ............................................................................. 21 2.2.3 Bioactive compounds from cyanobacteria ...........................................................23
