Natural Products in Drug Discovery: Approaches and Development

Historically, natural products (NP’s) have played a significant role in drug discovery, not only in cancer and infectious diseases, but also in other therapeutic areas including cardiovascular diseases and multiple sclerosis. Profit and loss, Partnerships and averages, natural products also present certain challenges for drug discovery, such as technical obstacles to screening, isolation, characterization and optimization, which added to decline in their search by the pharmaceutical industry from the 1990s onwards. In recent days the applications of molecular biological techniques have increased the availability of novel compounds that can be conveniently produced in bacteria or yeast or plant sources. In addition to this, combinational chemistry approaches are being based on natural product scaffolds to create screening libraries that closely resemble drug-like compounds. Employing these technologies gives us a chance to execute research in screening new molecules by means of a software and data base to ascertain natural products as a major source for drug discovery. It lastly directs to lead structure discovery. This review discusses plant based natural product drug discovery and how innovative technologies play a role in next generation drug discovery and highlights from the published literature on plants as sources of antiinflammatory agents. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

New insights into the biodegradation of polylactic acid: from degradation to upcycling

Owing to its capability to be biosynthetic and biodegradable, polylactic acid (PLA) is considered as the most promising biopolymer among all plastic materials, which will play a crucial role as a potentially environmentally friendly material for a sustainable bioeconomy. However, its long life cycle indicates that it cannot be easily degraded in nature. Therefore, understanding the biodegradation mechanism of PLA is important to reduce impacts of waste plastic, waste disposal and alleviate the energy crisis. With the recent development of molecular biological techniques, some studies have confirmed that specific groups of microorganisms may aid the biodegradation process of PLA. Here, recent advances in the biodegradation of PLA (i.e., microbial and enzymatic degradation) and key factors affecting the degradation efficiency were reviewed. In addition, compared to complete degradation through mineralization, upcycling is also proposed as a more recyclable strategy for disposing the waste plastics.

Research on Spartina alterniflora using molecular biological techniques: an overview

Biological invasion is a global issue. Since the double helix structure of DNA molecule was discovered in 1953, more scientific studies have focused on the structure and function of biological macromolecules in invasive organisms using molecular biology techniques, which has contributed to our understanding of their competitive advantages and invasion mechanisms. As a coastal invasive species, there has been considerable interest in Spartina alterniflora. Here we summarise previous studies investigating S. alterniflora using molecular biological techniques from the individual, population and application perspectives. We hope this article will be helpful in future studies on and in the management and utilisation of S. alterniflora in wetlands.

Animal experimentation: implementation and application of the 3Rs

Despite the development of powerful molecular biological techniques and technologies, studies involving research animals remain a key component of discovery biology, and in the discovery and development of new medicines. In 1959, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique, the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) were developed to provide a framework to ensure animal research was undertaken as humanely as possible. Sixty years since their inception, the extent to which the 3Rs have been adopted and implemented by the global scientific and medical research communities has unfortunately been slow and patchy. However, this situation is changing rapidly as awareness increases, not only of the 3Rs themselves, but of the impact of animal welfare on the reproducibility, reliability and translatability of data from animal studies.

Veterinary molecular laboratory examination

Molecular biological techniques are the best dimensions to diagnosis the disease process and its causative agents. The molecular biology technique is performed with sophisticated instruments or equipment’s required specialized trained personnel and undertaken in routine diagnosistic laboratories.