- "Bioprospecting is the exploration of natural sources for small molecules, macromolecules and biochemical and genetic information that could be developed into commercially valuable products for the agricultural, aquaculture, bioremediation, cosmetics, nanotechnology, or pharmaceutical industries."
The search for new and useful biological products and processes.
Bioprospecting: The process of exploring, extracting, and commercializing natural biological resources.
Biodiversity: The variety of living organisms present in a particular ecosystem or region.
Biotechnology: The use of living organisms or their components to produce useful products or services.
Biochemical compounds: The chemical substances produced by living organisms, including proteins, enzymes, DNA, and RNA.
Medicinal plants: Plants that are used to produce drugs or other medical products.
Microorganisms: Tiny organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
Bioremediation: The use of living organisms to clean up environmental pollution.
Marine biotechnology: The use of marine organisms to develop new drugs, cosmetics, and other products.
Metagenomics: The study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples, such as soil or water.
Genetic engineering: The manipulation of genetic material to produce desired traits in organisms.
Natural products chemistry: The study of chemical compounds produced by living organisms, including their isolation and synthesis.
Ecological conservation: The preservation of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity.
Phylogeny: The evolutionary history of a group of organisms.
Natural products discovery: The process of finding and identifying new compounds produced by living organisms.
Drug discovery: The process of identifying and developing new drugs for human or animal use.
Synthetic biology: The design and construction of new biological systems and organisms.
Bioinformatics: The use of computational tools to analyze biological data.
Microbial bioprospecting: The discovery and analysis of microbial organisms' potential for novel biological products or uses.
Plant bioprospecting: The exploration of plants for chemical compounds that can be turned into drugs, industrial materials, or other useful products.
Animal bioprospecting: The search for unique compounds and substances present in animal species, including venom, proteins, and other biological materials.
Marine bioprospecting: The study of marine organisms for the discovery of new drugs, foods, and other useful products.
Gene bioprospecting: The search for unique genes and gene sequences that can be used in genetic engineering and biotechnology.
Traditional knowledge bioprospecting: The discovery of new products, uses, and compounds from indigenous knowledge systems and traditional medicines.
Synthetic bioprospecting: The creation of new compounds using synthetic biology techniques, including genetic engineering and bioprinting.
Ecosystem bioprospecting: The discovery and analysis of natural ecosystems for potential bioproducts and uses.
Biodiversity bioprospecting: The search for biological resources and compounds across a broad range of biodiversity platforms, including forests, wetlands, and other habitats.
Soil bioprospecting: The exploration of soil microbiomes for the discovery of new compounds, nutrients, and useful microbial organisms.
- "Almost one third of all small-molecule drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1981 and 2014 were either natural products or compounds derived from natural products."
- "Interest is growing in less explored ecosystems (e.g. seas and oceans) and organisms (e.g. myxobacteria, archaea) as a means of identifying new compounds with novel biological activities."
- "Species may be randomly screened for bioactivity or rationally selected and screened based on ecological, ethnobiological, ethnomedical, historical or genomic information."
- "When a region's biological resources or indigenous knowledge are unethically appropriated or commercially exploited without providing fair compensation, this is known as biopiracy."
- "Various international treaties have been negotiated to provide countries legal recourse in the event of biopiracy and to offer commercial actors legal certainty for investment."
- "These include the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol."
- "The risks associated with bioprospecting are overharvesting of individual species and environmental damage."
- "An example includes national laws such as the US Marine Mammal Protection Act."
- "An example includes the Antarctic Treaty."
- "Bioprospecting could lead to the development of commercially valuable products for the pharmaceutical industry."
- "Bioremediation, cosmetics, nanotechnology, or pharmaceutical industries could benefit from bioprospecting."
- "Terrestrial plants, fungi, and actinobacteria have been the focus of many past bioprospecting programs."
- "Small molecules, macromolecules, and biochemical and genetic information can be explored during bioprospecting."
- "International treaties, such as the Nagoya Protocol, offer commercial actors legal certainty for investment in bioprospecting."
- "Interest is growing in less explored ecosystems as a means of identifying new compounds with novel biological activities."
- "Species can be randomly screened or rationally selected based on ecological, ethnobiological, ethnomedical, historical, or genomic information."
- "Biopiracy involves unethically appropriating or commercially exploiting a region's biological resources or indigenous knowledge without fair compensation."
- "The UN Convention on Biological Diversity provides legal recourse for countries in the event of biopiracy."
- "The US Endangered Species Act is an example of legislation developed to combat risks associated with bioprospecting."