Malaysia has been identified as one of the world’s twelve
biodiversity hotspots. Located in the tropical belt, it is endowed
with diverse flora, fauna and microorganisms which may benefit
us in one or another way.
There are number
of companies and institutes which see tremendous potential in
Malaysia’s rich biodiversity and one of them is Nimura Genetic
Solutions (NGS) Sdn Bhd. NGS has been collaborating with researchers
from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) since 2002
to search for useful novel compounds in microbes and plants that
grow in Malaysian tropical rainforests. “We focus on exploring
new compounds from these organisms to develop new antibiotics
and drugs,” says Ms Annie George, the research associate
of NGS.
Antibiotics are
bioactive compounds that either kill bacteria directly or hamper
their ability to grow and reproduce. During a bacterial infection,
antibiotics are thrown into the fray to mount a defense against
the invaders until the immune system is able to recover and get
rid of the remaining bacteria. Antibiotics stop or interfere with
a number of everyday cellular processes that bacteria rely on
for growth and survival by either breaking down bacterial wall
synthesis, or inhibiting the protein synthesis of the bacteria.
The structure of an antibiotic is normally determined by researchers
in order to be developed as a drug so that it can be used on or
administered to humans as an aid in the treatments or prevention
of certain diseases.
“The screening
of bioactive compounds from soil microorganisms starts with using
microbiological techniques where selective media is required to
culture the soil microbes. It also involves fermentation which
enables the expression of metabolites (bioactive compounds) from
the microbes. The structure of an active compound which shows
biological activity against bacteria and fungus will then be analyzed
based on its chemical characteristics and novelty”. “Microorganisms
for instance, have developed unique metabolite and physiological
capabilities to ensure survival in diverse habitats in Malaysia
and thus offers the potential to produce therapeutic metabolites,”
explains Annie.
NGS has developed
a reference database used to identify potentially valuable chemical
compounds. Once identified, these new discoveries will be further
tested for chemical identification and further biological activity.
“The further development into drugs or antibiotics will
be carried out by interested drug or pharmaceutical companies
after which clinical studies will be conducted for efficacy and
safety before it can be sold on shelves,” says Annie.
“It is
important to develop new antibiotics because bacteria can acquire
resistance by getting a copy of a gene encoding an altered protein
of an enzyme, even those of a different species,” she continued.
“Consequently, these bacteria would be immune to the existing
antibiotics”.
Worldwide, many new antibiotics derived from natural products
are being developed. Many of these are semi-synthetic modifications
of existing antibiotics. For example NGS collaborates with FRIM
to conduct research work on mitosporic fungi and some macrofungi
(mushroom). The organic compounds extracted from these fungi are
tested for their antimicrobial activity on common pathogenic microbes
such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Staphylococcus
aureus. The process of isolating the active compounds from
the extracts is now being carried out to validate their potential
as antibiotics.
Aside from identifying
bioactive compound from the soil, NGS also focuses on medicinal
plants, which is an important source of natural compounds for
drug discovery. According to Business Times, it was found
that at least 20% of the estimated 12,000 total higher plants
possess medicinal and/or therapeutic properties based on the recent
ethno-botanical studies. To date, a collection of 1,000 samples
of medicinal plants with their medicinal effects has been catalogued
by NGS.
To further its
aim in identifying the useful bioactive compounds found in plants,
NGS has recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Sarawak
Biodiversity Centre (SBC) to conduct microbial research on Sarawak’s
indigenous biodiversity.
The
MoA signing between NGS and SBC
The collaboration
between NGS and FRIM seems to be a successful one. Figure
1 illustrates the importance of NGS role in this collaboration.
NGS believes in the Convention of Biodiversity signed in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, the collaboration is such that any profits gained
from these collaborations would benefit the host country.
Figure
1 illustrates the collaboration between NGS and FRIM (Source:
NGS)
With the existing effort and collaboration, and the company’s
foray into medicinal plants NGS is confident that such investments
will bear fruit in the near future. While the return of investment
may be of primary commercial concern for the companies involved,
the fact that this arrangement prevents Malaysia’s natural
resources from being exploited without return to the country is
certainly the right direction.
