BIOACTIVE NATURAL PRODUCTS by Steven M. Colegate and Russell .J. Molyneux
In the context of this book, and its predecessor, bioactive natural products are those chemical compounds produced by living organisms that exert a biological effect on other organisms. This includes therapeutic activity for diseases of humans and animals, toxic activity responsible for causing human and animal disease, and selective, biodegradable toxicity to help combat pests that may adversely affect our endeavors to feed and otherwise service (e.g., protect cotton crops or plantations of timber used for construction, etc.) the human population. In some cases, these bioactive natural products are secondary metabolites produced by the organism to help protect itself within its own environmental niche. In other cases, the compounds may be integral to the everyday existence of the organism but have serendipitous activity in unrelated biological systems. This latter scenario is exemplifi ed by the search for novel bioactive applications for components of our food, for example, milk and egg-derived proteins. Several of the contributors to this book have commented on the vast potential offered by natural resources for discovery and development of new therapeutics. They have also commented on the dwindling of such resources in response to the expanding human population and its subsequent demands for food and increasing areas of land on which to live. The extinction of plant and animal species, as mankind encroaches on natural habitats, represents lost and irreplaceable resources, the full potential of which is unpredictable. In the same way, the infl uence of mankind on aquatic environments parallels that on the terrestrial habitats, with consequently similar concerns for loss of species yet to be investigated or even discovered. The loss of indigenous cultures, as other cultures become infl uential in an almost cancerous manner, is resulting in the loss of a fount of empirical ethnobotanical knowledge that has been acquired over the course of thousands of years. Indeed, several chapters in this book describe a heavy dependence on ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological information.