Tag: natural products
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Unlocking Nature’s Blueprint: How Plants Produce Cancer-Fighting Mitraphylline
New chapter in natural product science: how plants craft mitraphylline Researchers at the University of British Columbia Okanagan have unveiled the plant-based blueprint for mitraphylline, a rare natural compound in the spirooxindole family with potential cancer-fighting properties. This discovery not only answers a long-standing question about how plants assemble these complex molecules but also offers…
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Chlorinated Compounds from Slime Mold Show Strong Antibacterial Activity
New insights into a soil microbe’s chemical arsenal Dictyostelium discoideum, a cellular slime mold thriving in soil, has long fascinated scientists for its ability to switch from single cells to a coordinated multicellular form. Now, researchers have uncovered a new facet of this organism: it produces chlorinated natural products with notable antibacterial activity. Building on…
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Mitraphylline Production in Plants: Enzymes Revealed
Scientists unlock how plants create cancer-fighting mitraphylline In a breakthrough that could transform how powerful natural products are sourced, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan have mapped the enzymes that make mitraphylline, a rare spirooxindole alkaloid with potential anti-cancer properties. The discovery builds on a landmark finding from 2023 and opens the…