The Underexplored Genus Microbispora: A Treasure Trove of Secondary Metabolites with Diverse Chemistry, Potent Bioactivities, and Biosynthetic Insights

Abstract

Rare actinomycetes have emerged as important yet underexplored reservoirs for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Microbispora, a genus of rare actinomycetes, is widely distributed across diverse ecological niches, including terrestrial soils, marine-associated environments, plant-associated ecosystems, and insect-derived environments. To date, 81 secondary metabolites have been reported from this genus, encompassing quinones, chromones and chromanones, macrolides, other polyketides, alkaloids, peptides and diketopiperazines, and miscellaneous structural classes. These metabolites display antimicrobial, anticancer, neuroprotective, antiviral, plant growth-promoting, and enzyme inhibitory activities. Beyond systematically cataloging these compounds, this review provides an integrated analysis of their structure–activity relationships (SAR), biosynthetic origins, and biological significance. In addition, the biosynthetic potential of Microbispora is discussed based on reported genomic studies, highlighting the presence of numerous predicted and poorly characterized biosynthetic gene clusters. This review provides an integrative perspective on Microbispora as an underexplored but promising source of structurally diverse and bioactive natural products for drug discovery.