Chemical Biology of Natural Products

Book excerpt: Chemical Biology of Natural Products This unique, long-awaited volume is designed to address contemporary aspects of natural product chemistry and its influence on biological systems, not solely on human interactions. The subjects covered include discovery, isolation and characterization, biosynthesis, biosynthetic engineering, pharmaceutical, and other applications of these compounds. Each chapter begins with a brief and simple introduction to the subject matter, and then proceeds to guide the reader towards the more contemporary, cutting-edge research in the field, with the contributing authors presenting current examples from their own work in order to exemplify key themes. Topics covered in the text include genome mining, heterologous expression, natural product synthesis, biosynthesis, glycosylation, chemical ecology, and therapeutic applications of natural products, both current and potential.