Natural Product Reports Current Developments in Natural Products Chemistry
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View Online Volume 27 | Number 12 | 2010 27 | Number Volume Sit back and relax… 19120654a Online shopping is easy with the RSC Natural Product Reports Current developments in natural products chemistry www.rsc.org/npr Volume 27 | Number 12 | December 2010 | Pages 1725–1944 Whether you’re looking for text books, NPR the latest research articles, training courses, conferences or a light read for the commute… online shopping with the RSC couldn’t be easier. Downloaded on 17 November 2010 24/7 access: The RSC online shop gives you continuous access to class leading products and Published on 17 November 2010 http://pubs.rsc.org | doi:10.1039/C0NP90028A services, expertly tailored to cater for your training and educational needs. Browse and buy: Visit our shop to browse nearly 1000 books, equating to over 25,000 chapters, subscribe or purchase an individual article in one of our journals, join or renew your RSC membership, or register to attend a conference or training event. Gift ideas: If you’re looking for gift ideas, look no further. In our online shop you’ll find everything from popular science books like Molecules of Murder and A Healthy, Wealthy, Sustainable World from award winning science writer, John Emsley, to our stunning Visual Elements Periodic Table wall chart and jigsaw. With secure online payment you can shop online with confidence. The RSC has so much to offer…why not go online today? Pages 1725–1944 Pages www.rsc.org/shop ISSN 0265-0568 Registered Charity Number 207890 REVIEW Aaron Dossey Insects and their chemical weaponry: New potential for drug discovery 0265-0568(2010)27:12;1-H View Online NPR Natural Product Reports www.rsc.org/npr RSC Publishing is a not-for-profit publisher and a division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Any surplus made is used to support charitable activities aimed at advancing the chemical sciences. Full details are available from www.rsc.org IN THIS ISSUE ISSN 0265-0568 CODEN NPRRDF 27(12) 1725–1944 (2010) Cover See Aaron T. Dossey, pp. 1737–1757. Insectssuchasthese,andtheir chemical defense mechanisms, are a huge potential source of new natural products for medicinal and other valuable applications. Pictured here are (clockwise from top left): Anisomorpha buprestoides (Archbold Biological Research Station, Florida); Pseudophasma annulipes (Madre de Dios,Peru);alarvaofPapilio polyxenes (Shady Oak Butterfly Farm, Florida); Taeniopoda eques (Big Bend National Park, Texas). Photographs by Dr. Aaron T. Dossey, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2010, 27, Downloaded on 17 November 2010 1737. HOT OFF THE PRESS 1733 Hot off the press Published on 17 November 2010 http://pubs.rsc.org | doi:10.1039/C0NP90029J Robert A. Hill and Andrew Sutherland A personal selection of 30 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as menellin A from a gorgonian of the genus Menella. REVIEWS 1737 Insects and their chemical weaponry: New potential for drug discovery Aaron T. Dossey* This review aims to emphasize the value of arthropods as reservoirs of potentially useful new natural products, by reviewing the cultural uses of arthropods as medicines, and providing an overview of insect chemical defense studies and insect-derived substances with medicinally relevant biological properties. This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2010 Nat. Prod. Rep., 2010, 27, 1727–1732 | 1727 View Online REVIEW www.rsc.org/npr | Natural Product Reports Insects and their chemical weaponry: New potential for drug discovery Aaron T. Dossey* Received 7th May 2010 DOI: 10.1039/c005319h Covering: up to the first half of 2010 Insects make up the largest and most diverse group of organisms on earth, with nearly 1 million species described and millions more estimated to remain undiscovered. Like all other organisms, insects and related arthropods mainly utilize chemistry to adapt to these environments in a wide variety of ways, such as for defense against predation or infection, communication and socialization, life cycle development, and surviving environmental conditions. Arthropods harbor a large variety of chemical substances used for these ecological adaptations, and this is the overarching theme of the field of chemical ecology. Progress in the field has advanced rapidly, and this comprehensive review summarizes the enormous potential for discovery of new natural products with medicinal value from among the phylum Arthropoda. This review: (1) introduces the topic of arthropod chemical biodiversity; (2) reviews cultural uses of arthropods as medicines; (3) provides an overview of insect chemical defense studies and modern natural product analytical methods; (4) describes examples from the literature of insect-derived substances with medicinally relevant biological properties; and (5) summarizes the aforementioned topics to emphasize the value of arthropods as reservoirs of potentially useful new natural products. 1 Introduction 1 Introduction 2 Ethnoentomology: Use of insects by various cultures worldwide The natural world is made of chemical compounds, and all life- 2.1 Latin America forms on earth depend on efficient interactions between them for 2.2 Africa their existence. A host of technologies critical for human success, 2.3 Asia from the treatment of pathogenic diseases to food production to Downloaded by University of Florida on 13 December 2010 2.4 Europe controlling pests, require an understanding of chemical interac- tions between organisms. Understanding the nature of the Published on 17 November 2010 http://pubs.rsc.org | doi:10.1039/C005319H 3 Examples of chemical biodiversity in insect chemical defenses chemical and physical properties of substances and natural 3.1 Insect chemical defense research: Technology and matrices is critical to our ability to isolate, characterize, produce, history and use the chemistry of Nature to improve our livelihoods, and 3.2 Order Phasmatodea (stick insects) do so in a sustainable manner. 3.3 Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) The field of pharmacognosy deals with the biological proper- 4 Drug discovery potential of insects and their chemical ties of natural substances that lend themselves to medicinal uses defenses rooted in natural products chemistry. Harnessing the power of 4.1 Cytotoxins and anticancer compounds Nature’s chemical laboratory, such as using substances (phero- 4.2 Neurotoxins mones, etc.) that attract crop pests, and natural toxins that have 4.3 Antibiotics the ability to kill cancer cells or microbial pathogens, involves 4.4 Antivirals drawing analogies from the ecological roles of chemicals to 4.5 Other medicinally relevant properties human applications. Even the natural mechanisms that organ- 5 Natural products from arthropod-associated microbes isms use to manufacture these substances – their biosynthetic 6 Summary and conclusions pathways – have only recently been explored in depth, and only 7 Acknowledgements for a tiny fraction of species have potential applications been 8 References considered. Chemical ecology is the study of how chemical substances mediate the interactions between organisms that give rise to the ecosystems we observe. Information derived from chemical ecology can be utilized in a ‘biorational deduction’ approach1,2 to efficiently narrow down the search for the most promising medicinal chemicals from Nature.1–9 One of the predominant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Ph.D., Research Entomologist, 3751 SW 20th AVE, APT# 1, Gainesville, FL, 32607-4301, USA. E-mail: forms of interaction in which organisms use chemicals is [email protected] communication. Nearly all organisms, from bacteria to plants to This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2010 Nat. Prod. Rep., 2010, 27, 1737–1757 | 1737 View Online insects to mammals, use chemicals to send signals to other information with applications in the fields of biochemistry, organisms. Many of these substances are also used to protect the ecology, and biotechnology. For a variety of reasons, insects and source organism from harm (predation, attack, infection, or their chemical defense systems present a valuable source of novel simply invasion of living space). These substances can be broadly chemistry that certainly merits further investigation as source of placed in the category of chemical defense. Toxins and other new medicinal compounds, as well as substances with other chemicals which harm or are offensive to various recipient applications. organisms do so by producing a physiological response in the This review introduces the topic of arthropod chemical recipient/target. Such responses often have analogous counter- biodiversity, describes examples of medicinal insect use by parts relevant to human disease – such as toxicity to cancer cells cultures worldwide, provides an overview of insect chemical or microbial pathogens. defense studies and modern natural product analytical methods, Insects make up the largest and most diverse group of describes examples of specific insect-derived compounds with organisms on earth, making up 80–90% of the world’s biodi- medicinally relevant biological properties, and summarizes these versity.7 Approximately 950,000 species of insects have been topics to emphasize the value of arthropods as reservoirs of described,10 with some authors estimating that there are potentially useful new natural products. The literature on these approximately 4,000,000 insect species on earth in total.11 topics is vast, but fragmented. Thus, this review amalgamates the Considering the sheer