Bioprospecting, Active Compounds from Marine

Since 100 years ago, application of chemical engineering supported by the success of recombinant bioassay (bioassay) in vitro shifts the method of bioprospecting in developing pharmaceutical products. Interpreted as a simplification of bioprospecting in the exploration of new chemical compounds from living things in nature to the next through the screening proposed as a candidate biological akitivitas pharmaceutical ingredients.

With a chemical engineering recombinant, dozens of pharmaceutical products released to the market each year. This recombinant chemical products synthesized by modifying the random molecule from a chemical compound that has been successful role as a drug. Examples of chemical products includes several types of recombinant semisynthetic antibiotics such as penicillin, cephalosporin, kanamycin, rifamycin, lincomycin, etc..

Pharmaceutical companies rely heavily on chemical engineering recombinant, for various strategic reasons. Among other things, first, in an effort to develop new drugs, companies do not rely on natural ingredients. Second, capital invested in chemical engineering for a recombinant of new drug candidates is not as spectacularly as bioprospecting. Third, freedom from conflict with the supplier of natural raw materials such as bioprospecting.

Fully recombinant product is a result of chemical chemical engineering laboratory work on messing about with a carbon-carbon bond or other constituent elements, as well as modify its stereochemistry to mengkreasi a group of molecules that have different bioactive compounds with molecular origin before experienced recombination.

However, products of chemical engineering of recombinant pharmaceutical results was not spared from criticism of natural materials experts. Fenical (expert natural ingredients from the sea) commented recombinant chemical products is an example of an artificial product that has no roots in the function nature. The reason is, because it is chemically recombinant product innovation solely chemical engineers, assisted by molecular model design, guided by bioinformatics, which the expert molecular and fragment clusters mengkreasi new non-natural clusters that have biological activity, to be developed as new drug. The molecular structure results in general recombinant techniques taklah complicated chemical molecular structure of natural materials.

The uniqueness of Marine Habitat

There is a tendency of resistance of some bacterial pathogens to antibiotics is now commonly applied, coupled with the emergence of new diseases such as HIV-AIDS world's leading pharmaceutical to find new alternative sources of drugs, apart from the application of chemical engineering and quarrying recombinant sources of natural materials which gradually began to terrestrial worn.

With a unique marine ecosystem is believed to save seabrek potential source of new pharmaceuticals with new molecular structure (the novel) and also a new pharmacological mechanism. Skeptical whether these expectations? Presumably not, given the following facts that distinguish biotic marine ecosystems with terrestrial ecosystems.

First, in the marine ecosystem is the largest part of wandering biosphere on earth. Consequently the sea remains a habitat for creatures ranging from the most primitive and the ecosystem with the greatest biodiversity. Second, a unique marine ecosystem because of the communication, signal delivery, food processing, and defense of marine living beings, all of which took place in a column of water. Third, the variety and complexity of the macro-and micro-organisms is greater than other ecosystems. In other words represent the genetic diversity of sea creatures (phylogenetic) and the diversity of complex chemical constituents as well. Fourth, life at sea was dominated by microorganisms such as nanoplankton, mikroalgae, bacteria, archaea, and fungi that control more than 90% of chemical cycles in the ocean. Fifth, marine microorganisms has not been much studied compared to terrestrial microorganisms residents.

Approximately 40-50% drug in the market of chemical products derived from natural materials. Even a tenth of the 25 top selling pharmaceutical products derived from natural ingredients. Some chemistry of natural substances that have been converted to this drug is extracted from microorganisms, plants, and makroorganisme sea. Chemical uniqueness of marine natural products have been known since the 14th century in the traditional medicine of China and Japan. In both these countries have applied to extract sea horses for the treatment of various diseases including: treatment of impotence, respiratory diseases, kidney, liver and so on. But if dikomparasikan with a history of ethnobotany (traditional medicinal plants) in terrestrial ecosystems, is the use of natural ingredients from the sea for traditional medicine is very little.

Secondary Metabolites

Therefore, without guided by tracing the story of ethnobotany, collecting samples of sea creatures to be explored bioaktif compounds that effort really random and somewhat speculative, is solely motivated by the physical disability that sea creatures escape from predators. Instead, these sea creatures secrete secondary metabolites that can be paralysis for predators, or to make predators and competitors do not stand to be around, or just a camouflage.

Prospect isolation of secondary metabolites with new chemical structures which have bioactivity in sea creatures, both living in the vicinity, bersimbiose, or with coral reefs berasosisi probability reaches 300 to 400 times more likely, compared with mainland residents creatures. Until now, marine taxonomic experts, the new successfully identified 10% of residents living biodiversity of coral reefs (Bruckner, 2002).

Can it be imagined such a mega-chemical potential of natural materials which can be extracted from the sea! In coral reef ecosystems have still not fully revealed its contents. Marine abiotic characters differ not only spatially (horizontally) between coastal and offshore areas, but also vary vertically (water column). For coral reefs, Indo Pacific region (Indonesia, Philippines, northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, etc.) menghabitati more species of coral and other creatures than the inhabitants of coral reef ecosystems of coral reef ecosystems in other regions of the earth

Moreover, if reviewed, other marine-specific ecological niches, such as hydrothermal vents, deep-sea, hypersaline lagoons, methane gas sparger seabed, Antarctica and Artika sea, mangrove forest, etc, will increasingly make us transfixed on the chemical potential of natural materials and extreme characters to remember specific abiotic be adapted by the inhabitants of the sea creatures niche (niche) is a unique ecology in order to maintain its existence.

Marine Natural Products Chemistry bioprospecting

Conscious of these huge marine potentials, the two countries economic giant, the United States and Japan, are competing to invest in extracting natural materials from the sea (marine natural products / MNP). Japan to spend U.S. $ 1 billion per year (80% came from industry). Japanese experts of natural ingredients that extract 100 species of coral reef sponge residents found 20% of the sponge contains a unique new bioactive compounds. United States who invest smaller in the MNP has also been some success with as many as 170 dipatenkannya new bioactive compound since 1983.

Cephalosporin, an antibiotic that was originally isolated from the fungus Cephalosphorium sp. derived from sea water samples collected in Cagliari, Italy in the 40s, Ara-A (Vidarabin, Vidarabin Thilo) and anti-viral drug Ara-C (Cytarabin, Alexandria, Udicil) anti-cancer drug developed analog synthesis of compounds pilot (lead structure) arabinose-e nucleosid Cryptotethya crypta isolated from sponges collected in the Caribbean Sea in the year 50's are some examples of drugs developed from natural ingredients the sea and has successfully developed commercially (Faulkner 2002).

Ziconotide, agents, pain killers (pain killer) that was isolated from Conus magnus (cone snail) has undergone phase III clinical trials (late phase) was developed by Elan Pharmaceuticals, and Ecteinascidin 743 (anti-cancer), which is extracted from Ecteinascidia turbinata (tunicate) also currently undergoing phase III clinical trials, coupled with dozens of other bioactive compounds that are either in clinical trials phase I and II and are still in preclinical evaluation stage, and the isolation of hundreds of new bioactive compounds from the sea each year to add a long story and the uniqueness of the potential magnitude of natural materials sea as drug candidates.

Biodiversity vs. Intellectual Proper Right

The trend shift in extracting medicines from chemical engineering recombinant to bioprospecting in recent decades of intrigue and raises new conflicts between pharmaceutical companies with third world countries where most of the world's biodiversity resources originated. Intensive efforts livelihoods of natural materials by the pharmaceutical industry was shadowed by the reluctance of developing countries supplying the raw material.

Especially after the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Biological Diversity) by 140 countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992), which gave the concept of holding nations on their property rights to indigenous species. This concept is a powerful sword for politicians biodiversity countries in negotiating with the owner of the pharmaceutical industry of developed countries in terms of chemical utilization of natural materials.

The concept of this reason, a little more guts loosen the pharmaceutical industry and chemists of natural ingredients developed countries in building collaboration with the owner of the country's biodiversity, given the expectations of the country's biodiversity will be royalty owners and revenue that will be obtained.

While bioprospecting is a risky business, and no guarantee of the return of capital was invested. However, developed countries, is not less ingenious concept of biological diversity to compensate for this by proposing the concept of intellectual property rights (intellectual property).

No less than U.S. $ 350 million to be spent and about 10 years old should be taken to transform the new bioactive compounds from natural materials into commercial drugs. So it must be formulated with the ideal model of benefit sharing that can be pocketed by the owners of pharmaceutical companies and the country's biodiversity, so that excesses that arise from bioprospecting can be minimized, so this mega-biodiversity can be explored together to kemashlahatan dedicated to the human race!