In the present study, bioprospecting aspects of endophytic bacteria, isolated from leaves of 5 mangroves and 2 salt-marsh plant species, were explored. In total, 104 bacterial isolates were isolated from the leaf samples of mangrove plants of Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu. Thirty six fast growing isolates were selected and screened for biological activities. Of 36 isolates, 28 (77%) showed antimicrobi...

The development of the present study was based on selections using random, direct ethnopharmacological, and indirect ethnopharmacological approaches, aiming to evaluate which method is the best for bioprospecting new antimicrobial plant drugs. A crude extract of 53 species of herbaceous plants collected in the semiarid region of Northeast Brazil was tested against 11 microorganisms. Well-agar d...

Knowledge of evolutionary relationships or phylogeny allows for effective predictions about the unstudied characteristics of species. These include the presence and biological activity of an organism's venoms. To date, most venom bioprospecting has focused on snakes, resulting in six stroke and cancer treatment drugs that are nearing U.S. Food and Drug Administration review. Fishes, however, wi...

This article gives an overview of anthropological research on bioprospecting in general and of available literature related to bioprospecting particularly in South Africa. It points out how new insights on value regimes concerning plant-based medicines may be gained through further research and is meant to contribute to a critical discussion about the ethics of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)....

The present study was attempted for bioprospecting of pigmented marine Pseudoalteromonas species with special reference to enzymes. Totally 36 pigmented bacterial colonies were isolated from sediment and water samples collected from Pichavaram, Parangipettai and Muttukadu coastal areas and characterized. Based on the studied phenotypic characteristics 10 isolates were identified as Pseudoaltero...

Recent attempts to explore marine microbial diversity and the global marine microbiome have indicated a large proportion of previously unknown diversity. However, sequencing alone does not tell the whole story, as it relies heavily upon information that is already contained within sequence databases. In addition, microorganisms have been shown to present small-to-large scale biogeographical pat...

Pyramids touch us in many ways. According to a popular definition which most of us will understand, a pyramid is a stone structure with a flat (usually) square base and with sloping sides that meet at the top, especially built by the ancient Egyptians as a tomb or by the Aztecs and Mayas as a platform for a temple, raised for edification. Then there are food pyramids that propose to solve the o...

Microbial metabolites have been an important source of tuberculosis (TB) therapeutics, but the last truly novel drug that was approved for the treatment of TB was discovered 40 years ago. In light of the growing threat of multi-drug resistance, recent advances have been made to accelerate the discovery rate of novel TB drugs including diversifying strategies for environmental strains, and high-...