B io Factsheet

www.curriculum-press.co.uk Number 224

Why we need biodiversity: Medicine

All organisms contain chemicals that help to protect them against The problem:
disease or attack by other species. For example, a huge number of • A large number of useful substances have already been found
completely separate species contain similar proteins that help to • But we have only analysed less than 1% of plants for their
protect them against infection by bacteria and fungi. Prey species pharmacological activity and a vanishingly small proportion of
such as some frogs and toads produce toxic alkaloids in their skin animals and microbes
to prevent them from being eaten. Predators such as cone snails, • We have only discovered a small fraction of the species that
spiders, snakes and scorpions produce toxic proteins that instantly actually exist on the planet (a new species is discovered every
paralyse their prey. 15 minutes)
• We are driving species to extinction somewhere between 100 -
We can think of this as Nature acting as a chemist. These chemicals 1000 times faster than the natural rate
were not made to order when life began 3.5 billion years ago – they
have evolved over that time. Chemicals that did not offer any “ The library of life is burning and we do not even know the titles
advantage to an organism didn’t survive. So we can think of Nature of the books”
as having conducted an enormous clinical trial – one lasting 3.5 Dr G H Brundtland
billion years! Former Director-General of the World Health Organisation and
former Prime Minister of Norway
Humans have benefited from this already. In the US, more than 50%
of the most prescribed medicines come directly, or indirectly, from So far, scientists have identified about 1.75 million different species
natural sources. of plant and animal. This doesn’t include bacteria - we really haven’t
got a clue how many species of those there are!
Direct source: We have identified a useful substance in a microbe, `
plant or animal, extracted it, learned how to synthesis it, and used it The IUCN estimate that there are another 3 to 38 million species of
plant and animal that have yet to be discovered. 15,000 new species
Indirect source: Chemists have used the molecular structure of a are discovered every year (about one every 30 minutes!). There are
useful substance to make new, slightly different substances i.e. we many more species we don’t know anything about than those we do!
have used Nature’s substances as a starting point.
Of the 1.75 million species on planet Earth, just one poses a huge
So what’s the problem? Nature is a gigantic Chemist shop and we threat to the millions of others – humans (Fig.1)
are exploiting it and using it to make new, useful medicines aren’t
we? Homework! Choose one of the useful organisms on p2&3 and
produce a more detailed report on its usefulness to medicine
Fig 1. Human population vs species exiction: linked?

3.5 60

3.0 50

2.5 Number 40
Human
population of extinct
(billion) 2.0 species 30

1.5 20

1.0 10

0 0
1700 1800 1900 2000 1600 1700 1800 1900
Year Year

There are, of course, many reasons why biodiversity should be maintained but as Table 1 shows, Nature represents a fantastic potential
source of medicines and treatments.
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 Table 1. Biodiversity and medicine

Organism Useful substance/Use How discovered Use

Bark of Cinchona Quinine Amazon tribes used it to treat fevers Antimalarial drug. Malaria still kills between 1 and 3 million people every year - mostly children in
tree Africa. Chemists used their knowledge of its structure to develop chloroquine, mefloquine and
bulaquine - all highly-effective drugs.
Sweet Artemisinin Used in China to treat fever for thousands of 1. Antimalarial drug. Chemists then developed artemether and atremotil which, in combination with
Wormwood plant years chloroquine are still effective against the most deadly form caused by Plasmodium falciparum
2. Anticancer drug. Its antimalarial activity is due to the drug's interactivity with iron, which is
present in high concentrations in the malarial parasite. Leukaemia cells also have high iron
concentrations and so may also be killed by Artemisinin
The gene for production of Artemisinin has now been transferred to E.coli and yeasts in an attempt to
boost natural supplies - it's early days yet though.
Leaves of Pilocarpine (an alkaloid) Indians in northeast Brazil used it to induce breast In the first half of the 20th century it was used to reduce fluid pressure in the eyeball of glaucoma
224 Why we need biodiversity: Medicine

Pilocarpus jaborandi milk and as a diuretic (stimulates urine produc- sufferers. Another species of Pilocarpus, with even higher Pilocarpine concentrations is now grown in
tion). Pilocarpine was first isolated in 1875 plantations by Merck Pharmaceuticals
Rosy Periwinkle Vinca alkaloids e.g. Indians have used infusions of the plant to cure Vincristine, in combination with other medicines is capable of curing childhood leukaemia.
(Vinca rosea) vincristine & vinblastine toothache and scurvy for centuries Vinblastine is highly effective against Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system
Bark of Willow Salicylic acid, from Ancient Greeks made a concoction from the In 1898 Bayer added an acetyl group to the acid to form acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin A= acetyl
trees and leaves of which aspirin was made leaves of willow trees Spirin = Spiraea ulmaria, the source of the salicylic acid at the time.
Meadowsweet Aspirin has been taken by more people over the last century than any other drug. In the 1970s the

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British scientists John Vane discovered how it works - it blocks an enzyme called cyclooxygenase
that is involved in the production of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins stimulate nerves carrying pain
signals, encourage leakage of fluid into damaged tissues and cause fevers. So, by blocking
prostaglandin production, aspirin helps prevent pain, swelling and inflammation.
Thousands of years ago, people didn't have a clue about this - they just licked the inner bark of
willow trees - and felt better!
Prostaglandins also make platelets stick together. Thus, aspirin helps prevent blood clots and strokes
The South Asian tree Calanolide In 1987 a Harvard botanist collected leaves and Calanolide A was extracted from the leaves and twigs and found to have significant activity against
Calophyllum twigs from the tree in what was believed to be HIV. But when scientists went back to get more, they found that the original tree had been cut down
lanigerum the oldest rainforest on Earth, in Borneo and samples from other individuals failed to yield any of the original substance.…
Another species of Calophyllum now yields Calanolide B which also shows anti-HIV activity.
Now a joint US-Sarawak company has been established to produce the drug and ensure that the host
country benefits from its own biodiversity. Both Calanolide A and B are now in clinical trials.

Opium poppy Morphine First isolated by a German chemist in 1804 but Very powerful pain-killer, often used to reduce suffering just before death. Chemists have now
the Sumerians cultivated it - what they called developed a synthetic form - buprenorphine, which is less addictive but more powerful.
"Joy plants" in 3000BC
Purple sea urchin Medical research - the Sea urchins have been used to test drugs Sea urchins have been extensively studied, are easy to maintain in the lab and one female can produce
effect of drugs on throughout the 20th century 500,00 eggs in one season. Fertilization and embryonic development are external and rapid so the
embryo development effect of drugs on embryo development is easy to investigate.
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 Table 1. Biodiversity and medicine continued
Organism Useful substance/Use How discovered Use
Armadillo Medical research - The World Health Organisation funded a Researchers trying to develop vaccines against pathogens such as the bacterium that causes leprosy
development of leprosy programme to mass produce M. leprae in need to grow cultures of the microorganisms.
vaccine armadillos in the 1970s
However, Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy is difficult to grow in petri dishes
- it prefers to grow in cool but living tissue e.g in the feet, nose and ears. Armadillos have a lower than
average core body temperature and so they have been used to grow cultures of the M. leprae.
Squid Medical research that can Squid have been used as a research tool since Squid have a giant nerve cell fibre - 1,000 times wider than the average human axon - which has made
then be applied to humans the mid 19th century research into nerve function, impulse transmission, cellular communication and conditions such as
Alzheimer's much easier.
The Medicinal Leech Hirudin The use of the leech is recorded in 3000 year- Hirudin is an anticoagulant. It prevents blood clotting by blocking thrombin.
(Hirudo medicinalis) old tombs of Egyptian Pharoahs In 1994 the anticoagulant lepirudin, which is nearly identical to hirudin began to be mass produced by
inserting the hirudin-producing gene into yeast which could be grown in industrial-scale fermenters.
224 Why we need biodiversity: Medicine

Leeches are also used to reduce fluid accumulation around damaged veins during vascular surgery e.g.
when reattaching severed fingers or in breast reconstruction surgery

Although we don't know how they do it, we also use leeches to reduce pain in people who have
osteoarthritis of the knee. Besides anticoagulants and anti-inflammatory compounds, leeches inject a
complex cocktail of chemicals with its saliva.
Canine Hookworm Anticoagulant protein Hookworm saliva has been known to contain 1. Treatment of some types of heart attacks

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an anticoagulant since 1900 but it wasn't 2. Treatment of Ebola virus infection
isolated until 1998
The fungus Penicillin Alexander Fleming notices that the fungi P. Widespread use of penicillin to treat bacterial infection accelerated the development of bacteria that
Penicillium notatum notatum, which had accidentally contaminated were resistant to it and since then we have had to develop tens of thousands of different types of
petri dishes of bacteria, was actually stopping antibiotic to try to stay ahead of the bacteria
growth of the bacteria.

The fungus Vancomycin Found in a soil sample from the jungles of Vancomycin is the most effective antibiotic used to treat strains of Staphylococcus aureus that have
Amycolatopsis Borneo become resistant to just about every other antibiotic
orientalis
The fungi Penicillium Statins Isolated by scientists in England and Japan in Statins reduce an individual's chances of having or dying from a heart attack by 25%. They work by
citrinum and 1976 reducing cholesterol synthesis, especially the most harmful form, LDL cholesterol
P. brevicompactum
African Clawed Frog Magainins - antimicrobial Isolated from skin and intestine in the 1980s Broad spectrum antimicrobial proteins that kill bacteria along with some fungi and some protozoa by
proteins causing their membranes to disintegrate.
Synthetic forms are in clinical trials as treatments for diabetic foot ulcers, wound healing and septic
shock
Caribbean Sea Squirt Trabectedin - anticancer The Sea squirt's genome is being intensively Unique anti-cancer mode of action which is in clinical trials for use with some of the most difficult to
agent studied as they possess a primitive backbone treat cancers e.g. carcinomas of soft tissues e.g. fat and muscle
and are believed to bae a link between
invertebrates and vertebrates
Acknowledgements:
This Factsheet was researched and written by Kevin Byrne. Curriculum Press, Bank House, 105 King Street, Wellington, Shropshire, TF1 1NU.
Bio Factsheet
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