Secondary natural substances that occur in numerous plants, bacteria and fungi can be anti-inflammatory, can ward off pathogens or even prevent the growth of cancer cells. However, making use of the riches provided by nature’s medicine cabinet and identifying new natural substances is time-consuming, costly and labour-intensive. A team of bioinformaticians at Friedrich Schiller University Jena has now developed a method that enables much faster and easier identification of small active substance molecules.

Millions of structural data items not yet deciphered

To find out which substances are contained in a biological sample such as a plant extract, a researcher analyses the sample using mass spectrometry. In this process, the molecules are broken down into fragments and their mass is determined. “The CSI:FingerID molecule search engine we developed allows us to search specifically for molecular structures that match these fragments,” says Prof. Sebastian Böcker of the University of…

Read Full Story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211014131201.htm