title: Drugs from hidden bugs: their discovery via untapped resources.
abstract: The drug discovery process is a starving machine requiring constant feeding with new chemical compounds. Synthetic or natural scaffolds: what are the best sources? While synthetic molecules are rapidly generated by combinatorial chemistry, they show lower chemical diversity than their natural counterparts. A significant fraction of known natural products is issued from microbial secondary metabolism; however, more than 95% of bacterial organisms remain unexploited as a source of active chemical compounds due to their cultivation difficulties. Recent technological advances in metagenomics have provided reliable access to chemicals of these hidden bugs, thus opening up new opportunities for feeding the machine.
authors: LibraGen, 3 rue des Satellites, Bâtiment Canal Biotech I, 31400 Toulouse, France. f.lefevre@libragen.com
authors: Fabrice
authors: F
authors: Lefevre
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Robe
authors: Cyrille
authors: C
authors: Jarrin
authors: Aurélien
authors: A
authors: Ginolhac
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Zago
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Auriol
authors: Timothy M
authors: TM
authors: Vogel
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Simonet
authors: Renaud
authors: R
authors: Nalin
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D015698:Genomic Library; D010802:Phylogeny; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors; D004269:DNA, Bacterial