This volume presents recent developments in the novel drug development and potential of extremophilic cyanobacteria. It discusses how these tiny organism originated, produce oxygen that leads to evolution of life on the earth, how their survival strategies in extreme climatic conditions lead to diverse metabolic pathways, and the opportunity to use them to develop novel drugs. The book is comprised of five chapters, starting with the origin of cyanobacteria, their survival strategies under extreme conditions, and their capabilities to change metabolic activities.The second chapter explores the different metabolic pathways found in cyanobacteria and examines advances in this field and recent techniques like MALDI-TOF imaging and metagenomics tools as well as in silico techniques for rapid screening of secondary metabolites. Further chapters cover the glycomics of cyanobacteria, anticancer drug development, and some issues and challenges of using cyanobacteria to develop drugs.
Extremophilic Cyanobacteria For Novel Drug Development provides insight into future perspectives in drug development and is a key resource for students, researchers and professionals in pharmacy, medicinal chemistry, pharmacognosy biotechnology, biology, and academics.

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Origin of Cyanobacteria and Evolution of Life 1

1.2 Extreme Environments Inhabited by Cyanobacteria and Their Diversity 3

      1.2.1 Thermophilic Cyanobacteria 3

      1.2.2 Psychrophilic Cyanobacteria 4

      1.2.3 Halophilic Cyanobacteria 4

      1.2.4 Acidophilic Cyanobacteria 5

      1.2.5 Alkaliphilic Cyanobacteria 5

      1.2.6 Heavy Metal Tolerant Cyanobacteria 6

      1.2.7 Radiation-Resistant Cyanobacteria 6

1.3 Survival Strategy of Extremophilic Cyanobacteria 8

      1.3.1 Avoidance Mechanism 8

      1.3.2 Stress Defense Activities 10

      1.3.3 Repair Mechanism 12

1.4 Changes in Metabolic Activities of Cyanobacteria Under Stress 13

1.5 Cyanobacteria as a Promising Candidate for New Pharmaceutical Compounds 14

References 17

2 Secondary Metabolites of Cyanobacteria and Drug Development 23

2.1 Secondary Metabolic Pathways Found in Cyanobacteria 23

2.2 Recent Advances in Novel Secondary Metabolites Discovery from Cyanobacteria 27

      2.2.1 Epigenetic-Related Approaches 28

      2.2.2 Genome-Driven Approaches 29

      2.2.3 Analytics and Preparative Strategies for Accessing New Natural Products 30

2.3 In silico Screening for Novel Secondary Metabolites of Cyanobacteria 32

2.4 Novel Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in Cyanobacteria 36

References 39

3 Glycoconjugates of Cyanobacteria and Potential Drug Development From Them 45

3.1 Glycoconjugates of Cyanobacteria 45

3.2 Glycan Biosynthesis in Cyanobacteria 47

3.3 Glycotherapy Using Cyanobacterial Glycoconjugates 48

3.4 Cyanobacterial Glycans as Drag Delivery Device 51

3.5 Glycoconjugate Vaccines 54

References 58

4 Anticancer Drug Development from Cyanobacteria 63

4.1 Cyanobacterial Metabolites with Potential Anticancer Properties 63

4.2 Cytotoxicity of Cyanobacterial Natural Product 66

4.3 Apoptosis and Cyanobacterial Natural Product 69

4.4 Drug Delivery System with Cellular Targets 72

References 73

5 Issues and Challenges of Drug Development from Cyanobacteria 79

5.1 Clinical Trial and Commercial Drug Development 79

5.2 Challenges of Drug Development in Cyanobacteria 82

5.3 Future Prospects 85

References 87

Index 91

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