Natural Products and Production Systems: Opening Comments

Blaine Pfeifer

doi:10.1021/mp8000183

Making drugs out of sunlight and ‘thin air’: an emerging synergy of synthetic biology and natural product chemistry

The Biochemist ◽

10.1042/bio20200044 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 34-39

Author(s):

Michael J. Stephenson ◽

Anne Osbourn

Keyword(s):

Natural Products ◽

Synthetic Biology ◽

Natural Product ◽

Large Scale ◽

Production Systems ◽

Biological Activities ◽

Structural Complexity ◽

Scale Production ◽

Natural Product Chemistry ◽

Product Chemistry

Nature has long served as a rich source of structurally diverse small organic molecules with medicinally relevant biological activities. Despite the historical success of these so-called natural products, the enthusiasm of big pharma to explore these compounds as leads in drug design has waxed and waned. A major contributor to this is their often inherent structural complexity. Such compounds are difficult (often impossible) to access synthetically, a hurdle that can stifle lead development and hinder sustainable large-scale production of promising leads for clinical evaluation. However, in recent years, an emerging synergy between synthetic biology and natural product chemistry offers the potential for a renaissance in our ability to access natural products for drug discovery and development. Advances in genome sequencing, bioinformatics and the maturing of heterologous expression platforms are increasing, enabling the study, and ultimately, the manipulation of plant biosynthetic pathways. The triterpenes are one of the most structurally diverse families of natural products and arguably one of the most underrepresented in the clinic. The plant kingdom is the richest source of triterpene diversity, with >20,000 triterpenes reported so far. Transient expression of genes for candidate enzymes and pathways in amenable plant species is emerging as a powerful and rapid means of investigating and harnessing the plant enzymes involved in generating this diversity. Such platforms also have the potential to serve as production systems in their own right, with the possibility of upscaling these discoveries into commercially useful products using the same overall basic procedure. Ultimately, the carbon source for generation of high-value compounds in plants is photosynthesis. Therefore, we could, with the help of plants, be producing new medicines out of sunlight and ‘thin air’ in green factories in the not too distant future.

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Investigation of non-canonical terpene biosynthesis

10.21248/gups.64080 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Laura Drummond

Keyword(s):

Natural Products ◽

Structural Material ◽

Production Systems ◽

Terpene Biosynthesis ◽

The Creation ◽

Fragrance Compounds

Terpenes are one of the largest and most diverse class of natural products, produced by organisms from all kingdoms of life and with important applications in the pharma, flavor and fragrance industries. Well-known examples of terpenes are the pharmaceuticals artemisinin and taxol, the flavor and fragrance compounds menthol, santalol and sclareol, the structural material polyisoprene and the biofuel precursor farnesene. The methods and results presented in this work offer a variety of ways to modify terpene precursors for the creation of new terpene molecules. The application of these methodologies in well-established production systems could lead to the production of new substances, with applications in the industrial fields of pharmaceuticals, flavors and fragrances, and biofuels.

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Side Effects of Organic Products on Telenomus podisi (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae)

Journal of Economic Entomology ◽

10.1093/jee/toaa119 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 113 (4) ◽

pp. 1694-1701

Author(s):

Lucas Battisti ◽

Jheniffer V Warmling ◽

Claudinei F Vieira ◽

Darlin H R Oliveira ◽

Yuri R A Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Products ◽

Side Effects ◽

Production Systems ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Sublethal Effect ◽

Organic Production ◽

Choice Test ◽

Adult Longevity ◽

Offspring Sex Ratio ◽

Telenomus Podisi

Abstract Telenomus podisi Ashmead, 1893 is an important biocontrol agent, both in conventional and organic production systems. It can be used in association with other control strategies, such as natural botanical products and biological insecticides. Studies of selectivity and side effects are fundamental for proper management of insect control strategies because the interaction between different control strategies may negatively affect T. podisi. In this context, the present study evaluated the side effects of commercial natural products on T. podisi under laboratory conditions. Five natural products (insecticide, fungicide, and leaf fertilizer) allowed in organic farming were evaluated at concentrations recommended by the manufacturer in three bioassays. First bioassay (free-choice test), the preference of T. podisi parasitism between treated and non-treated E. heros eggs was assessed. In the second and third bioassay (no-choice tests) the treatments were applied to E. heros eggs, repectively before and after T. podisi parasitism (pre- and post-parasitism) and parasitism, emergence, offspring sex ratio, developmental time, and adult longevity were assessed. The products formulated with Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok. (Hypocreales), Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. (Hypocreales), orange oil fertilizer, and the fungicide copper oxychloride did not have side effects on T. podisi because they did not affect most of the evaluated characteristics. In contrast, azadirachtin A/B had a sublethal effect due to the reduced parasitism in all tests performed and, although it did not affect other aspects, this could compromise the performance of the parasitoid.

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