Salinispora is a genus of obligately aerobic, gram-positive, non-acid-fast bacteria belonging to the family of Micromonosporaceae.

[2] This genus of bacteria has potential biotechnological significance due to their production of novel secondary metabolites which can be used pharmaceutically.

[6][7] The clade that initially comprised only S. pacifica was further interrogated through comparative genomic analyses in 2020 to reveal six additional species.

[9][10] Salinispora members are gram-positive, filamentous bacteria which form extensively branched hyphae with smooth surfaced spores that can occur in clusters or singles.

They have been shown in culture to preferentially grow at the upper sediment layers where blooms at the sediment-seawater interface have been observed.

The large production of species/strains’ particular secondary metabolite lends evidence to the importance of them in bacterial survival, and can potentially be used to identify specific species and strains within the genus Salinispora.

[16][17] Salinispora are commonly found in tropical and subtropical near-shore marine sediments of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

[19] Salinispora has been used as a model for analyzing genome sequence data in order to further uncover biosynthetic pathways among bacteria.

[20] Although the list of Salinispora pacifica natural compounds identified is not as extensive as found in S. arenicola, the potential pharmaceutical use of these metabolites is of great interest.

Both classes demonstrate potent activity that is damaging to DNA, and is observed to be highly cytotoxic against human cancer cells.

[25] Due to their unique molecular architecture and biological activities, lomaiviticins are an ideal natural product for chemical synthesis.

[27] Salinispora tropica also produces antiprotealide, another anti-cancer agent which is potentially the strongest cancer inhibitor within the Salinospora secondary metabolite lists.