 Myxobacteria are known for their ability to produce diverse natural products as secondary metabolites, though terrestrial members of the group are much better characterized than marine myxobacteria.Several types of unusual secondary metabolites have been isolated from "E. salina" cultures.One class, given the name salimyxins, is composed of incisterols, a rare class of natural products with a spotty phylogenetic distribution; production of any type of sterol is rare for prokaryotic organisms.