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Natural products Bioactivity Analysis of the Tanzanian Herbal Extracts Derived from the Shrub Myrica salicifolia

Myrica salicifolia

Traditional medicines, derived from indigenous plants, play importance roles in many developing nations, providing affordable, accessible and culturally acceptable medicinal approaches. In Tanzania, extracts of Myrica salicifolia are widely used for the treatment of infection relating to multiple conditions, yet our understanding of the molecular activities of these extracts are limited. The project will provide cross disciplinary research, with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, providing natural products chemistry analysis of M. salcifolia extracts, and Royal Holloway providing cell and molecular biology analysis to define bioactive component mechanism. The project will thus provide the first insight to molecular effects of this extract.

Disciplines and Techniques
Project supervisor/s
Robin SB Williams
Biological Sciences (https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/robin-williams(f59210ed-f7c6-4b50-a29c-05c861d4b6c1).html
Royal Holloway University of London
Melanie-Jayne R Howes
Phytochemistry (https://www.kew.org/science/our-science/people/melanie-jayne-howes)
Natural Capital and Plant Health Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
References
Dioic acid glycosides, tannins and methylated ellagic acid glycosides from Morella salicifolia bark
Makule, Kraus, Guido Jürgenliemk, Heilmann & Wiesnetth
Phytochemistry Letters, 28, 76-83
2018
Diarylheptanoid Glycosides of Morella salicifolia Bark
Makule, Schmidt, Heilmann & Kraus
Molecules, 22, 2266
2017
Dictyostelium discoideum as a pharmacological model system to study the mechanisms of medicinal drugs and natural products
Schaf, Damstra-Oddy & Williams
Int. J. Dev Biol. 63: 541 - 550
2019
Decanoic acid inhibits mTORC1 activity independent of glucose and insulin signalling, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
Warren, Dooves, Lugarà, Damstra-Oddy, Schaf, Heine, Walker, & Williams
PNAS, 117,38, 23617-23625
2020
Curcumin and derivatives function through protein phosphatase 2A and presenilin orthologues in Dictyostelium discoideum.
Cocorocchio, Baldwin, Stewart, Kim, Harwood, Thompson, Andrews & Williams
Disease Models and Mechanisms. 29;11[1]
2018