Bioactive Compounds in Bryophytes and Pteridophytes

Book excerpt: This reference work provides a comprehensive overview of bioactive compounds investigated in bryophytes and pteridophytes and explores their nutritional, biological, pharmacological and ecological effects. Bryophytes are cosmopolitan lower plants that are rich in phytochemicals including fatty acids, tocopherols, phenolics, terpenoids. Additionally, these plants contain bibenzyls, bis-benzyls, and polyketides which have been demonstrated to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic activities. Pteridophytes are another group of lower vascular plants which were reported to have useful secondary compounds such as flavonoids, steroids, phenolics, terpenoids, and these plants impart medicinal values including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-HIV activities. This book contains comprehensive contributions compiled by expert scientists and researchers in this field.The book offers a useful resource for plant biotechnologists, plant biologists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, food technologists, nutritionists, research investigators of the healthcare industry, academia, faculty, and students of biology and biomedical sciences. It also provides a strategic framework for further research and development activities of bryophytes and pteridophytes of the world.