Hunting for novel compounds at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea

Twenty metres below swimmers and watercraft, a cornucopia of creatures thrives at the bottom of the sea. This stable environment constitutes the habitat of crayfish, sea stars, flatfish, worms, and even microscopic creatures. Some of these microbes do not need air to live. Instead, buried in the sediment they slowly consume whatever organic matter they encounter. To do so, these “cleaners of the sea” produce enzymes and substances that may hold the key to cure diseases and improve our health. In search of such compounds, researchers at the National Institute of Biology (NIB) in Slovenia embarked in January on the research vessel Sagita (1-2). Tihomir Makovec, the head of the diving unit, operated underwater probes to capture samples of the sediment (3) in front of the city of Piran (Pirano) (4). Later, researcher, Luen Zidar, transferred them into the laboratory to grow them on agar plates (5). Patience will be key; cultivation of sea soil bacteria is a slow process that oftens requires months. And so, the hunt for potential new substances begins.