Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Organism: The Sole Source of New Drug Discovery

Abstract

Various microorganisms e.g., bacteria, fungi and higher organism e.g., plant during their metabolism produces both primary and secondary metabolites, needed for their survival and defense. Often these secondary metabolites are being used in drug discovery. The genes for the enzymes of these secondary metabolic pathways are generally grouped together as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and hidden away in organism’s genome. Genome mining of the unexplored microbes, medicinal plants, and underexplored human microbiota with emerging genomics research involving next-generation sequencing technology along with bioinformatics tools like anti-SMASH (antibiotics and Secondary Metabolite Analysis Shell), planti-SMASH, may help in finding many BGCs and subsequently in the discovery of many new drugs in future.