Natural products : discourse, diversity and design

Natural Products: Discourse, Diversity and Design provides an informative and accessible overview of discoveries in the area of natural products in the genomic era, bringing together advances across the kingdoms. As genomics data makes it increasingly clear that the genomes of microbes and plants contain far more genes for natural product synthesis than had been predicted from the numbers of previously identified metabolites, the potential of these organisms to synthesize diverse natural products is likely to be far greater than previously envisaged. Natural Products addresses not only the philosophical questions of the natural role of these metabolites, but also the evolution of single and multiple pathways, and how these pathways and products may be harnessed to aid discovery of new bioactives and modes of action.