Main description:

Based on the award winning Wiley Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology, this book provides a general overview of the unique features of the small molecules referred to as "natural products", explores how this traditionally organic chemistry-based field was transformed by insights from genetics and biochemistry, and highlights some promising future directions. The book begins by introducing natural products from different origins, moves on to presenting and discussing biosynthesis of various classes of natural products, and then looks at natural products as models and the possibilities of using them in medicine.

Contents:

Preface vii Contributors ix PART I CHEMICAL DIVERSITY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS 1 1 Plant Natural Products 3 A. Leslie Gunatilaka 2 Marine Natural Products 31 Nobuhiro Fusetani 3 Microbial Natural Products 65 Sergio Sanchez, Silvia Guzma'n-Trampe, Mariana A'valos, Beatriz Ruiz, Romina Rodr'yguez-Sanoja, and Manuel Jim'enez-Estrada PART II BIOSYNTHESIS OF NATURAL PRODUCTS 109 4 Nonribosomal Peptides 111 Georg Schoenafinger and Mohamed A. Marahiel 5 Plant Terpenoids 127 Christopher I. Keeling and Jorg Bohlmann 6 Polyketides in Fungi 143 Thomas J. Simpson and Russell J. Cox 7 Modular Polyketide Synthases 163 Tonia J. Buchholz, Jeffrey D. Kittendorf, and David H. Sherman 8 Polyketide Polyethers 189 Alison M. Hill 9 Alkaloids 209 Sarah E. O Connor 10 Cofactors 239 Ilka Haase, Markus Fischer, Adelbert Bacher, Wolfgang Eisenreich, and Felix Rohdich 11 Antibiotics 269 Sergey B. Zotchev PART III NATURAL PRODUCTS IN MEDICINE 287 12 Pharmaceuticals: Natural Products and Natural Product Models 289 Sheo B. Singh 13 Natural Products as Anticancer Agents 325 David G. I. Kingston and David J. Newman 14 Plant-Derived Natural Products Research in Drug Discovery 351 Kuo-Hsiung Lee, Hideji Itokawa, Toshiyuki Akiyama, and Susan L. Morris-Natschke Index 389