Antimicrobial activity of natural products

Nallusamy Sivakumar*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Natural products have been the most productive source of leads for the development of drugs. Natural products provide an unlimited opportunity for new drug leads because of the unparalleled chemical diversity. Many pharmaceutical agents have been discovered by screening natural products from plants, animals, marine organisms and microorganisms. These biologically derived antibacterial compounds could have reasonable value in controlling antibiotic resistant pathogens also. The prevalence of antibacterial natural products drugs may be due to the evolution of secondary metabolites as biologically active chemicals that conferred selective advantages to the producing organisms. This chapter provides an overview of natural products, their sources, their role in increasing antibiotic susceptibility of drug resistant bacteria and the synergism between natural products and antibiotics.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNatural Products and Their Active Compounds on Disease Prevention
PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.
Pages205-221
Number of pages17
ISBN (Print)9781621001539
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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