Title:Computer-Aided Drug Design of Bioactive Natural Products
VOLUME: 15 ISSUE: 18
Author(s):Veda Prachayasittikul, Apilak Worachartcheewan, Watshara Shoombuatong, Napat Songtawee, Saw Simeon, Virapong Prachayasittikul and Chanin Nantasenamat
Affiliation:Center of Data Mining and Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Keywords:Natural products, Biological activity, Data mining, Drug discovery, Computer-aided drug design.
Abstract:Natural products have been an integral part of sustaining civilizations because of their medicinal
properties. Past discoveries of bioactive natural products have relied on serendipity, and these
compounds serve as inspiration for the generation of analogs with desired physicochemical properties.
Bioactive natural products with therapeutic potential are abundantly available in nature and some of
them are beyond exploration by conventional methods. The effectiveness of computational approaches
as versatile tools for facilitating drug discovery and development has been recognized for decades, without exception, in
the case of natural products. In the post-genomic era, scientists are bombarded with data produced by advanced technologies.
Thus, rendering these data into knowledge that is interpretable and meaningful becomes an essential issue. In this regard,
computational approaches utilize the existing data to generate knowledge that provides valuable understanding for
addressing current problems and guiding the further research and development of new natural-derived drugs. Furthermore,
several medicinal plants have been continuously used in many traditional medicine systems since antiquity throughout the
world, and their mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Therefore, the utilization of computational approaches and advanced
synthetic techniques would yield great benefit to improving the world’s health population and well-being.
