From Forest to Fumaroles: a New Era in Bioprospecting ______
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FROM FOREST TO FUMAROLES: A NEW ERA IN BIOPROSPECTING ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Fullerton ____________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Geography ____________________________________ By Curtis Blondell Thesis Committee Approval: Dr. Robert Voeks, Chair Dr. John Carroll, Department of Geography Dr. Jonathan Taylor, Department of Geography Summer, 2016 ABSTRACT Plants have long served as a primary source of medicines for humans. In the mid- 1990s, that began to change. Innovations in genomic biotechnology appeared on the scene. Some researchers felt frustrated by the recently adopted Convention on Biological Diversity. Bioprospectors looked elsewhere for an additional source of medicines and found it in microbial organisms. Bioprospecting had entered a new era. How and why this expansion into microbial bioprospecting occurred, and what it means for the future of bioprospecting, is the subject of this thesis. Viewed historically, certain events since the European Age of Discovery and onward, are responsible for driving bioprospecting into this new era. Microbial organisms of the greatest interest are called extremophiles. These organisms thrive in places long thought impossible for life. Microbial bioprospecting plays out in distinctly different geographies than that of plants. Humid tropical rainforests have given way to fumaroles in America’s Yellowstone National Park. Deep sea vents thousands of feet beneath the ocean surface offer opportunities for bioprospecting. The frozen expanse of Antarctica has become the focus of bioprospectors. Searching for microbes in two of these three locations has not only changed how bioprospecting is conducted, it has the potential to create geopolitical tensions. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ x Chapter 1. FROM PLANTS TO MICROBES ....................................................................... 1 2. BIRTH OF BIOPIRACY ..................................................................................... 11 Seeds of a New Era ............................................................................................... 11 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 11 Bioprospecting as Biopiracy .......................................................................... 11 The Theft of Cinchona ......................................................................................... 14 Quinine’s Final Chapter ................................................................................. 20 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 21 3. BIOPROSPECTING: A MORE HUMANE AGE .............................................. 22 Bioprospecting as Science .................................................................................... 22 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 22 Bioprospecting Enters the Laboratory .......................................................... 23 The Role and Wonder of Secondary Compounds ......................................... 25 Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology: A Linkage is Formed .............................. 30 Ethnobotanical Knowledge in Early Drug Development ............................. 30 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 33 4. THE AGE OF SYNTHESIZED MEDICINES .................................................... 35 Bioprospecting in the 1900s ................................................................................. 35 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 35 Bioprospecting Tries to Detach Itself from Plants ......................................... 35 The First Mass Screening Program ................................................................ 38 The Continuing Linkage between Ethnobotany and Drug Development ............. 41 Ethnobotany Goes Psychedelic ...................................................................... 41 iii Ethnopharmacology: Another Link in the Chain ........................................... 42 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 44 5. TWO DECADES THAT CHANGED BIOPROSPECTING FOREVER ............ 45 Bioprospecting from 1980-2000 ........................................................................... 45 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 45 Farnsworth’s List ........................................................................................... 46 Return to Paradise .......................................................................................... 47 The Long March to the Convention on Biological Diversity ............................... 49 Movements to Protect Indigenous People and Traditional Knowledge ....... 50 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 54 6. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 56 A Key Driver of Bioprospecting’s New Direction ............................................... 56 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 56 Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge: Who Owns It? ................................ 57 Candidates for Biopiracy: Three Case Studies ..................................................... 63 Quassi the Genius or Quassi the Biopirate? ................................................... 63 The Myth of the Rosy Periwinkle .................................................................. 65 Salvation from the South Pacific: Kava ......................................................... 69 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 73 7. THE CBD AND IMPACTS ON ETHNOBOTANICAL RESEARCH………... 75 The CBD in Practice and the Nagoya Protocol .................................................... 75 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 75 The Convention on Biological Diversity: A New Era, New Problems ......... 76 Ethnobotanical Research post-CBD: Hard Lessons in Chiapas .................... 77 The CBD in the New Century: A Work in Progress ............................................. 85 Impact of the CBD and the Biopiracy Narrative ........................................... 85 The Nagoya Protocol: Bandage or Cure? ...................................................... 86 Bioprospecting in the Digital Age ................................................................. 87 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 88 8. THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ........................................................... 90 From Rainforest to Pharmaceutical: The Long, Uncertain, and Expensive Road ................................................................................................................. 90 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 90 Green Gold Reborn ........................................................................................ 91 The Myth of (Easy) Green Gold .................................................................... 95 The Value of Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge in Drug Discovery: Map or Maze? ................................................................................ 100 Pharmaceutical Companies as the Good Guys: Two Case Examples ............. 107 iv The INBio-Merck Benefit Sharing Agreement: A Revolutionary Pact ......... 108 Shaman Pharmaceuticals: A Painful Reality ................................................. 109 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 112 9. BIOPROSPECTING IN AFRICA ........................................................................ 113 An Argument for Contemporary Biopiracy .......................................................... 113 Hoodia: A Case Study .......................................................................................... 113 Hoodia v. the Rosy Periwinkle ...................................................................... 118 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 119 10. A NEW ERA IN BIOPROSPECTING ................................................................ 120 Microbial Bioprospecting ..................................................................................... 120 Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................... 120 Microbial Organisms: