E-Mail IMAGE: Metabolic changes among monocultures of R. similis and S. rochei and co-culture and proposed formation mechanism for 74 and 75 view more Credit: Marine Life Science & Technology Announcing a new publication for Marine Life Science & Technology journal. In this review article the authors Xiao-Yue Peng, Jin-Tao Wu, Chang?Lun Shao, Zhi-Yong Li, Min Chen and Chang-Yun Wang from the Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China consider the metabolic potential and molecular diversity of natural products from microorganisms. Microbial secondary metabolites have long been considered as potential sources of lead compounds for medicinal use due to their rich chemical diversity and extensive biological activities. However, many biosynthetic gene clusters remain silent under traditional laboratory culture conditions, resulting in repeated isolation of a large number of known compounds. Co-culture strategy simulates the complex ecological environment of microbial life by using an ecology-driven method to activate silent gene clusters of microorganisms and tap their metabolic potential to obtain novel bioactive secondary metabolites.