Marine invertebrates including sponges, soft coral, tunicates, mollusks and bryozoan have proved to be a prolific source of bioactive natural products. Among marine-derived metabolites, terpenoids have provided a vast array of molecular architectures. These isoprenoid-derived metabolites also exhibit highly specialized biological activities ranging from nerve regeneration to blood-sugar regulation. As a result, intense research activity has been devoted to characterizing invertebrate terpenes from both a chemical and biological standpoint. This review focuses on the chemistry and biology of terpene metabolites isolated from the Red Sea ecosystem, a unique marine biome with one of the highest levels of biodiversity and specifically rich in invertebrate species.
Keywords: Red Sea; biomedical leads; marine ecosystem; marine invertebrates; terpenes.