Front cover
Editorial: Modern Methods in Plant Natural Products themed issue
Bioinformatics challenges in de novo transcriptome assembly using short read sequences in the absence of a reference genome sequence
This Highlight article provides an overview of the bioinformatics challenges associated with transcriptome analyses using short read sequences and how to address these issues in plant species that lack a reference genome.
Concepts and technologies for tracking bioactive compounds in natural product extracts: generation of libraries, and hyphenation of analytical processes with bioassays
This review covers technologies which have been designed to generate pre-fractionated extract libraries and efficiently correlate biological data with chemo-analytical information.
Mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy: modern high-end detectors for high resolution separation techniques – state of the art in natural product HPLC-MS, HPLC-NMR, and CE-MS hyphenations
Natural product research is unthinkable without hyphenated instrumental analysis platforms as HPLC-MS, CE-MS, or HPLC-NMR. This review provides an overview of latest technological developments, discusses the assets and drawbacks of the available techniques, and describes typical analytical workflows and applications.
21st Century natural product research and drug development and traditional medicines
21st century 'omics technologies linked with robust ethnobotanical and ethnomedical studies of traditional medicines can improve current treatments of malaria and TB and many chronic diseases. The Saffron Gatherers at Akrotiri-Santorini exemplifies the traditional uses of plants and natural products that also provide a foundation for new and improved medicines.
A global approach to analysis and interpretation of metabolic data for plant natural product discovery
Discovering molecular functionality is key to development of hypotheses concerning the organization and regulation of metabolic networks. Here, we detail public metabolomics repositories, approaches for data analysis and integration with transcriptomics to explore natural product biochemistry.
Review Article
Natural product isolation – how to get from biological material to pure compounds
Methods used in the course of isolation of secondary compounds from higher plants, marine organisms and microorganisms are discussed, covering work published between 2008 and 2012.
Using NMR to identify and characterize natural products
The use of 2D NMR and selective 1D NMR experiments has helped to revolutionize natural product structure elucidation. This review focuses on the improvements in NMR pulse sequences and processing methods that have contributed to this revolution.
About this collection
NPR is delighted to publish a collection of reviews focussing on modern methods in plant natural products. Guest Edited by Simon Gibbons and Sarah O’Connor, this collection brings insight into how the rapid advances in analytical technique seen in recent years have revolutionised the field.