Whenever I read stories like this, I get really depressed because they remind me of how many species humans have caused to go extinct, how many more they have driven to the brink of extinction, and about the dire predictions of the collapse of biodiversity.
Even setting aside the arguably much greater ethical and moral issues with such extinctions, think of all the species that could have yielded remarkable and useful secrets to us after proper research -- if they still existed. Sometimes I wonder if by such wanton destruction is sealing its own doom.
Perhaps a cure to a some future cataclysmic disease outbreak might have lain in a formerly living organism that can no longer help us because we killed it off. Or maybe some revolutionary new material could have been inspired by an extinct species, had we only been able to study it.
The premise is flawed. It assumes humans required those species to continue (such that "humans die off" actually occurs). We very clearly did not require the ones that are already gone, and we clearly don't require these unknowns to continue forward either (if we did, we wouldn't exist, much less be thriving as we are).
In fact, it's almost guaranteed at this point that humanity has reached an instigation of self-controlled evolution take-over that can no longer be stopped or turned back, short of an extremely near-term (within a century or so) self-destruction event.
Within this century, humans will no longer exist as we think of the species today. There's no amount of extinction that is likely to occur in that time frame to prevent humanity from pushing radically forward in governing its own evolution. Where we're going, these 'natural medicinal opportunities' will not matter. The hyper evolutionary leap that has already begun with robotics, CRISPR, AI, etc., will make most of this discussion hilariously trivial very soon. There's nothing that likely can stop what's coming at this point (unless someone wants to load up an asteroid event soon).
Yes, may the day come when anti GMO humans with super technology fight against super intelligent laser-shooting immortal space dolphins in a never ending war across the galaxy.
Polyphenols? Far too often you see inexperienced medical researchers who stumble across a polyphenol while screening natural products and think they've found a viable lead compound. This class of compounds is an unselective binder (plants have evolved tannins to denature any protein, including those in fungal plant pathogens) and impossible to elaborate. The SGLT inhibitors developed from phlorizin are an exception. You'd expect better from UCSD, though.
Yes they stick to everything, and we have no clear idea on a mechanism. As drug candidates few in pharmaceutical development would want to work with them.
> We previously developed a high-throughput screening CellTiter-Glo ATP bioluminescence-based assay to assess antiparasitic activity [48], and used this assay to test compounds 1–9 against the trophozoite stage of E. histolytica, G. lamblia, and N. fowleri. Compounds 1–6 displayed dose response antiparasitic activity against all three pathogens by reducing the culture density by 50% (EC50) compared to untreated trophozoite cultures (Table 3).
If I am translating it correctly, they only tested this in vitro (not in rats, not in humans). So, as you say, this may not be useful to cure us. Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/1217/
It's grape season! I've got a few scuppernog vines (that's the grape native to the US, Vitis rotundifolia) in the yard. They are bearing grapes plentifully. Scuppernogs have a thick skin, much thicker than the European kind (V. vinifera), with astringent flavour (that's polyphenol tannins) . When you look at the surface closely you see little corky spots, where the hypersensitive response took place, a defense mechanism in plants against fungal infection. The tannins denature cellulase enzymes that are secreted by fungal hyphae in their attempt to invade cells, and cork is dry and just plainly indigestible.
Indeed, scuppernogs have an excellent reputation for disease resistance. The xkcd is very relevant, also for grapes.
Creosote is amazing! It's responsible for that "desert rain" smell. There is also King Clone, "estimated to be 11,700 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms on Earth" [1]
I've heard creosote bush was used by Native Americans and early settlers as medicine for a lot of things.
It must have some properties, it grows in unbelievably dry and hot areas and nothing eats it. It doesn't seem to be susceptible to fungus or rots or really anything I've ever observed.
And if this has anything to it, there is a whole lot of creosote stretching from West Texas to California that isn't much good for much else. Except making the desert smell wonderful when light rains pass through.
How many treatments and cures for countless diseases and conditions are floating around in nature undiscovered? And how many of those helpful organisms, plants, microbes, are being destroyed by human activity? It is probably staggering.
Even setting aside the arguably much greater ethical and moral issues with such extinctions, think of all the species that could have yielded remarkable and useful secrets to us after proper research -- if they still existed. Sometimes I wonder if by such wanton destruction is sealing its own doom.
Perhaps a cure to a some future cataclysmic disease outbreak might have lain in a formerly living organism that can no longer help us because we killed it off. Or maybe some revolutionary new material could have been inspired by an extinct species, had we only been able to study it.