The Unique Australian Flora, A Veritable Pandora’s Pharmacopeia of Compounds with Therapeutic Biomedical Potential: Are the Chalcones the Geni in The Box?

James Melrose

doi:10.34257/gjsfrbvol21is1pg77

Abstract

The aim of this review was to highlight the unique biodiversity of the flowering plants and shrubs of Australia and their component chemicals that evolved during the separation of the Australian continent from Gondwanaland. The chemicals produced by these flowering plants provided protection ensuring the survival of the Australian flora which had to contend with often harsh Australian climatic conditions. The diversity of plant phytochemicals produced by these flowering plants reflects the unique diversity of the Australian Flora and these represent a Pharmacological goldmine. It was beyond the scope of this review to cover the full spectrum of these chemical compounds present in Australian plants instead we focused on the chalcones in this review. This compound has a special status in medicinal chemistry as a base intermediate for the synthesis of a large repertoire of polycyclic compounds that display anti-bacterial, antifungal, anti-viral and anti-tumour properties and these are thus of considerable interest in Biomedicine.

Highlights

Introduction a) Geographical isolation of the Australian continentSeparation of Gondwanaland from the Pangea super-continent during the mid- Jurassic period resulted in the Australian land-mass becoming isolated in the Southern Ocean
The origins of some key plant species have even been traced back to the Gondwanaland super-massif prior to its break-up and some of these have been identified in the present day Australian flora
The rice genus (Oryza) originated about 130 million years ago in Gondwanaland withsub-species subsequently becoming established in the land-masses that arose from Gondwanaland’s break-up. This plant was the basis of all rice varieties, a staple food of a significant proportion of the worlds population and as such is an invaluable source of original genetic information when creating back-crosses in the production of new rice cultivars [158]. This is but one example of the importance of the gene pool resident in native Australian plants.The plants of the Amazon basin are often extolled as an important source of genetic biodiversity of global significance for good reason

Summary

Introduction

) Geographical isolation of the Australian continent. Separation of Gondwanaland from the Pangea super-continent during the mid- Jurassic period resulted in the Australian land-mass becoming isolated in the Southern Ocean. This geographic isolation is reflected in the present day by the biodiversity and uniqueness of Australia’s flowering plants, shrubs and trees. Many of these are unique to Australia occasional related species have been recorded in S. Remnant vegetation resembling that seen in Gondwanaland remains in pockets of rainforest in the

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