Natural products for type II diabetes treatment.

Natural products such as plant extracts and complex microbial secondary metabolites have recently attracted the attention of scientific world for their potential use as drugs for treating chronic diseases such as Type II diabetes. Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) or Type II diabetes has complicated basis and has various treatment options, each targeting different mechanism of action. One such option relies on digestive enzyme inhibition. Almost all of the currently used clinically digestive enzyme inhibitors are bacterial secondary metabolites. However in most cases understanding of their complete biosynthetic pathways remains a challenge. The currently used digestive enzyme inhibitors have significant side effects that have restricted their usage. Hence, many active plant metabolites are being investigated as more effective treatment with fewer side effects. Flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides are few to name in that class. Many of these are proven inhibitors of digestive enzymes but their large scale production remains a technical conundrum. Their successful heterologous production in simple host bacteria in scalable quantities gives a new dimension to the continuously active research for better treatment for type II diabetes. Looking at existing and new methods of mass level production of digestive inhibitors and latest efforts to effectively discover new potential drugs is the subject of this book chapter. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.