ABSTRACT

This chapter considers examples of products from marine microorganisms, including enzymes, pharmaceuticals, antifouling agents, polymers, and biofuels. Agarases are widely used in the molecular biology laboratory as a method of purifying DNA after separation on agarose gels. Microbial biotechnology has played a key role in the massive expansion of intensive global aquaculture over the past few decades, especially in the control of water quality, control of disease with antibiotics and vaccines, and the development of nutrients and probiotics for stimulating growth and feed conversion. The best chemotherapeutic antimicrobials work by targeting a process present in bacteria that is absent or different in their eukaryotic host. Antimicrobial agents are most commonly administered in medicated feed. Antimicrobials may sometimes be given by immersion of infected fish in a bath containing the agent, especially for gill and skin infections. Several species of microalgae may be suitable for large-scale culture.