Isolation and Characterization of Anti-malarial Compounds from a Natural Product Library

Abstract

Malaria is a disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum which kills 1-2.7 million people per year. Parasite resistance to widely available anti-malarial treatments such as Chloriquine is spreading rapidly, and current treatments for Chloroquine-resistant parasites tend to be unaffordable for people in the impoverished areas where malaria is endemic. Therefore, there is an increasing need for anti-malarial treatments that are easy to develop, effective, and inexpensive. In this study, we explore a novel source of anti-malarial probes by screening extracts from a library of cave actinomycetes. Using the â-hematin formation assay optimized in the Wright lab to screen for anti-malarial activity, coupled with LC-MS and 2D NMR techniques, we can isolate active compounds and determine their structure. In this project we identify the soy isoflavone Genistein as an active anti-malaria probe, and explores a new natural product resource that may be helpful in the continuing search for novel anti-malarial treatments.