ABSTRACT
Based on the most recent statistics obtained in 2012, the success rate for the development of new drugs from synthetic compounds is only 0.005%, while the rate for the development of whole natural products is 0.6% and that for the development of natural microbial products is 1.6% (Bérdy, 2012). Most of the drugs currently available on the market are those obtained from the synthesis or semisynthesis of natural products. Thus, microorganisms remain an important source for the development of new drugs. The bioactive compounds recovered from microbes can be modied using gene manipulation to obtain more superior or ideal drugs, which are subsequently produced on a large scale.
