Diversity of Natural Chemicals Based on Variable Environmental Conditions: Discovery and Development

Abstract

Chemical ecology is the study of chemical interactions between living organisms and their environment, as consequences the organism evolved strategies in order to adapt the surrounding environment. An organism can communicate with its environment through production of chemical signals. Chemical signals can be found in all biological systems including microbes, plants, and animals. The study of chemical ecology can offer a powerful insight into these biological/chemical interactions and hence can be employed in ecologically‐based applications including medical, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries. Chemical screening of Calligonum comosum, a plant native to the hot climate of UAE, showed that the plant developed both short‐distance (local) and long‐distance (systematic over limited sphere) phytochemicals. Local chemical was represented by phenolic idioblasts that were released in response to plant cutting. Systematic chemical was represented by toxic volatile oil containing ~50% cuminaldehyde. The plant produced the oil as defensive strategies against both pathogens invasion and herbivore attack. Cuminaldehyde has never been reported from the same plant genotype native to other climates. Furthermore, a combination of volatile oil extracted from UAE Calligonum plant and lawsone extracted from UAE Henna plant in a liposome pharmaceutical dosage form showed great synergistic antimicrobial activity with minimal toxicity. On the other hand, cuminaldeyde requires the presence of less‐polar chemical adjuvants to overcome microbial resistance. The obtained results represent chemical evolution due to climate. Generating a natural chemical library in context of logic chemical evolution of an organism with assigned biological activities will help to develop novel effective medicines.