Natural Products Articles

2,5-Disubstituted decahydroquinolines (DHQs) represent o­ne of the major classes of amphibian alkaloids. They have been detected in skin extracts of dendrobatid and mantelline frogs and bufonid toads, and for 5-epi-cis-275B' (16) and 5-epi-trans-275B (17) found in the extracts of virgin queens of a myrmicine ant. Detection of such DHQs in an ant, their first reported occurrence, strengthens a dietary hypothesis for the origin of the approximately 30 DHQs that have been detected in extracts of frog skin.

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Green plants and production systems that are most removed from conventional commercial food and feed crops are most likely to succeed.

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Many organisms are known to produce or sequester toxic compounds as a form of chemical defense. A classic example is illustrated in the relationship between the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.), and its larval food plant, the milkweed, Asclepias curassavica L.; monarch larvae feed o­n the milkweed and retain cardiac glycosides, found therein, in their body tissues, thereby conferring the adult butterfly unpalatable to potential bird predators. The zebra swallowtail butterfly, Eurytides marcellus (Cramer) (Papilionidae), is also known to sequester specific compounds from its larval food source, the North American paw paw tree, Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal (Annonaceae); however, the retained compounds, as reported previously, are innocuous flavonoid pigments that have no role in defense.

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Licorice herb has been widely used for many centuries in the cure of common illnesses, such as sore throat and dry cough. Recent studies have revealed that the healing properties of licorice components could be effective against a much wider spectrum of diseases, such as chronic hepatitis and HIV infection. However, excessive consumption of this natural agent may produce dangerous side effects, since the substances it contains can interfere with many metabolic pathways. Therefore, caution should be taken when using licorice in a chronic manner, or when larger doses than appropriate are being prescribed.For full article Click Here

A new solid tumor selective cytotoxic analogue of dolastatin 10 has been isolated from the marine cyanobacterium Symploca hydnoides, collected near Guam. This metabolite has been assigned the trivial name symplostatin 1. This discovery supports the proposal that many compounds isolated from the seahare Dolabella auricularia, the original source of the dolastatins, are of dietary origin.

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After many starts and stops, hype and disappointment, foreign protein expression in plants is now routine and biopharmaceuticals produced in green plants will soon be with us.

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The persistence of organochlorine pesticides exacerbates environmental concerns over them. Now, however, Japanese researchers have discovered that a lily plant makes short-lived organochlorine compounds as an antifungal defense. The work could potentially point the way to synthetic, environmentally friendly organochlorine pesticides. When the edible lily Lilium maximowiczii is attacked by a certain soil fungus, the plant responds by producing antimicrobial compounds that act to restrict the fungal damage, according to researchers at Hokkaido University, Sapporo led by chemistry professor Mitsuo Takasugi and assistant professor Kenji Monde. They have identified orcinol and seven of its chlorinated metabolites in this antimicrobial mixture. The researchers conclude that the stressed plant produces these unusual "natural organochlorine pesticides" from orcinol via enzymatic chlorination.

There is no current capacity crunch due to increased investments in new facilities.

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Unripe avocado fruit (Persea americana) was subjected to a bioactivity-directed fractionation, as monitored via the brine shrimp lethality assay, to isolate three major bioactive constituents. All three of the compounds have a 1,2,4-triol moiety and a long aliphatic chain that terminates as either an alkane, alkene, or alkyne, respectively. All have activity against six human tumor cell lines in culture and show selectivity for human prostate adenocarcinoma (PC-3) cells.

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Public interest in attaining or maintaining health with “natural” remedies has steadily increased during the last few decades. The demand for phytopharmaceuticals, otherwise known as plant or herbal drugs, to treat disease has become a worldwide phenomenon. In Europe, the market for botanicals is well developed and involves prescription sales in some countries. China and Japan also have long traditions of using herbal drugs. In the U.S., interest continues to rise as more Americans choose alternative medicines and self-treatment approaches for their health.

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