Biodiversity and drugs

Biodiversity Is helpful
Biodiversity plays a vital role in maintaining human and animal health because numerous plants, animals, and fungi are used in medicine to produce vital vitamins, painkillers, antibiotics, and other medications.

Many plant species have been studied thoroughly for their value as a source of medicine. They have a wide range of benefits such as anti fever and anti inflammatory properties, can treat diseases such as malaria and diabetes, and are used as vitamins and antibiotic and antifungal medications. More than 60% of the world's population relies almost entirely on plant medicine for primary health care, and about 119 pure chemicals such as caffeine, methyl salicylate, and quinine are extracted from less than 90 species of higher plants and used as medicines throughout the world. In China, Japan, India, and Germany, there is a great deal of interest in and support for the search for new drugs from higher plants. It is the only known source of artemisinin, a drug that has been used to treat fevers due to malaria, exhaustion, or many other causes, since ancient times. Upon further study, scientists have found that Sweet Wormwood inhibits activity of various bacteria, viruses, and parasites and exhibits anti cancer and anti inflammatory properties.

Animal derived drugs are a major source of modern medications used around the world. The use of these drugs can cause certain animals to become endangered or threatened; however, it is difficult to identify the animal species used in medicine since animal derived drugs are often processed, which degrades their DNA. These drugs are often used in dermatology and have been reported to have anti fever and anti inflammatory properties and treat some diseases.

Certain animals have obtained many adaptations of toxic substances due to a coevolutionary arms race between them and their predators. Some components of these toxins such as enzymes and inorganic salts are used in modern medicine. For example, drugs such as Captopril and Lisinopril are derived from snake venom and inhibit the angiotensin converting enzyme.

Edible fungi can contain important nutrients and biomolecules that can be used for medical applications. Fungi have been used to make many antibiotics since Sir Alexander Flemming discovered Penicillin from the mold, Penicillium notatum. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in using fungi to create antibiotics since many bacteria have obtained antibiotic resistance due to the heavy selection pressures that antibiotics cause. Countries in Asia such as Egypt and China have been using fungi for medical uses for centuries. Current drugs used to treat this disease have many side effects and do not inhibit all forms of T. gondii. An in vitro study by Sharma et al. suggests that Turkey Tail mushroom extract could be used to treat Toxoplasmosis since it inhibited T. gondii growth.

Pestalone is an antibiotic created from the marine fungus: Pestalotia sp. M. Cueto et al. (2001–11) found that it has antibiotic activity against two bacteria species that have gained resistance to antibiotics: vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals select certain plants as self medication to treat or prevent disease. In an interview with the late Neil Campbell, Eloy Rodriguez describes the importance of biodiversity:

"Some of the compounds we've identified by zoopharmacognosy kill parasitic worms, and some of these chemicals may be useful against tumors. There is no question that the templates for most drugs are in the natural world."