Читать книгу Core Microbiome - Группа авторов - Страница 8

Medicinal plants have been used in many parts of the world for thousands of years in traditional treatments for numerous diseases. In rural areas of developing countries, they are still used as a primary source of drugs [1]. About 80% of developing countries use conventional medicines for general health care [2]. Natural products can be obtained from medicinal plants that have proven to be a rich source of biologically active compounds; many of them are used to develop novel chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. With regard to disease-causing microorganisms, the increasing resistance to therapeutic agents currently in use, such as antibiotics and antiviral agents, has led to renewed interest in exploring novel anti-infective compounds. As approximately 450,000 plant species are available worldwide, of which only one per cent has been phytochemically analyzed, the prospects of locating new bioactive compounds are tremendously positive.

Medicinal plants are essentially considered complex and dynamic when used in systems for remedial therapy. Hence, their chemical composition depends upon several factors, such as botanical species, genetically determined chemotypes, anatomically a part of the plant (e.g., seed, flower, root, and leaf), storage, sun exposure, humidity, kind of ground, time of harvesting, and ecological area. Moreover, biogenic factors, such as the fungal and bacterial endophytes related to diverse parts of the plant, can influence their chemical composition. In recent years, the research and study of the multiple interactions occurring between endophytes and medicinal plants have modernized our knowledge of plant biology, with entirely unexpected and remarkable application perspectives: the probability of modulating, amplifying, or interfering within the biosynthesis of phytoconstituents (e.g., terpenes, polyphenols, and alkamides), but also to engineer the synthesis of latest molecules directly, for instance with antibiotic activity.