The use of synthetic insecticides has been a solution to reduce mosquito-borne disease transmission for decades. Currently, no single intervention is sufficient to reduce the global disease burden caused by mosquitoes. Problems associated with extensive usage of synthetic compounds have increased substantially which makes mosquito-borne disease elimination and prevention more difficult over the years. Thus, it is crucial that much safer and effective mosquito control strategies are developed. Natural compounds from plants have been efficiently used to fight insect pests for a long time. Plant-based bioinsecticides are now considered a much safer and less toxic alternative to synthetic compounds. Here, we discuss candidate plant-based compounds that show larvicidal, adulticidal, and repellent properties. Our discussion also includes their mode of action and potential impact in mosquito disease transmission and circumvention of resistance. This review improves our knowledge on plant-based bioinsecticides and the potential for the development of state-of-the-art mosquito control strategies.

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Fungal endophytes are well-established sources of biologically active natural compounds with many producing pharmacologically valuable specific plant-derived products. This review details typical plant-derived medicinal compounds of several classes, including alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, glycosides, lignans, phenylpropanoids, quinones, saponins, terpenoids, and xanthones that are produced by endophytic fungi. This review covers the studies carried out since the first report of taxol biosynthesis by endophytic Taxomyces andreanae in 1993 up to mid-2020. The article also highlights the prospects of endophyte-dependent biosynthesis of such plant-derived pharmacologically active compounds and the bottlenecks in the commercialization of this novel approach in the area of drug discovery. After recent updates in the field of 'omics' and 'one strain many compounds' (OSMAC) approach, fungal endophytes have emerged as strong unconventional source of such prized products.

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The zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) is used as an embryonic and larval model to perform in vitro experiments and developmental toxicity studies. Zebrafish may be used to determine the toxicity of samples in early screening assays, often in a high-throughput manner. The zebrafish embryotoxicity model is at the leading edge of toxicology research due to the short time required for analyses, transparency of embryos, short life cycle, high fertility, and genetic data similarity. Zebrafish toxicity studies range from assessing the toxicity of bioactive compounds or crude extracts from plants to determining the optimal process. Most of the studied extracts were polar, such as ethanol, methanol, and aqueous solutions, which were used to detect the toxicity and bioactivity. This review examines the latest research using zebrafish as a study model and highlights its power as a tool for detecting toxicity of medicinal plants and its effectiveness at enhancing the understanding of new drug generation. The goal of this review was to develop a link to ethnopharmacological zebrafish studies that can be used by other researchers to conduct future research.

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Microtubules have long been considered an ideal target for anticancer drugs because of the essential role they play in mitosis, forming the dynamic spindle apparatus. As such, there is a wide variety of compounds currently in clinical use and in development that act as antimitotic agents by altering microtubule dynamics. Although these diverse molecules are known to affect microtubule dynamics upon binding to one of the three established drug domains (taxane, vinca alkaloid, or colchicine site), the exact mechanism by which each drug works is still an area of intense speculation and research. In this study, we review the effects of microtubule-binding chemotherapeutic agents from a new perspective, considering how their mode of binding induces conformational changes and alters biological function relative to the molecular vectors of microtubule assembly or disassembly. These "biological vectors" can thus be used as a spatiotemporal context to describe molecular mechanisms by which microtubule-targeting drugs work.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder characterized by the selective degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. Both familial and sporadic cases present tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and postural instability. Although major insights into the genes responsible for some rare hereditary cases have arisen, the etiology of sporadic cases remains unknown. Epidemiological studies have suggested an association with environmental toxins, mainly mitochondrial complex I inhibitors such as the widely used pesticide rotenone. In recent years, Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model of several neurodegenerative diseases, including a genetic model of PD. Here, we studied the neurodegenerative and behavioral effects of a sublethal chronic exposure to rotenone in Drosophila. After several days, the treated flies presented characteristic locomotor impairments that increased with the dose of rotenone. Immunocytochemistry analysis demonstrated a dramatic and selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in all of the brain clusters. The addition of l-dopa (3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine) into the feeding medium rescued the behavioral deficits but not neuronal death, as is the case in human PD patients. In contrast, the antioxidant melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) alleviated both symptomatic impairment and neuronal loss, supporting the idea that this agent may be beneficial in the treatment of PD. Therefore, chronic exposure to pesticides recapitulates key aspects of PD in Drosophila and provides a new in vivo model for studying the mechanisms of dopaminergic neurodegeneration.

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Ülke: Malaya

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Burkill,1966

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Malaya

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Burkill,1966

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Philippines

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Altschul

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Elsewhere

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Takeda

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Elsewhere

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: India

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Woi.3

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Malaysia

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Philippines

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Altschul

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Asia

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Borneo

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Burkill,1966

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: India

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Eb24: 135

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Java

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Woi.3

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Samoa

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Eb28: 17

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: German

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Asia

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Borneo

Taxon: Derris elliptica

Referans: Woi.3

Kaynak: James A. Duke