Natural Product Development Discovery
For this lab we gathered plant materials and tested them to see if they had antibacterial activity. We did this to see if everyday plants, such as willow bark, have antibacterial potential and could be used as potential medicines. We were told that Native Americans used willow bark to treat wounds and illness. Willow bark is now a major part of medicine. The plants we chose to test were lemon leaves, and rosemary. For our result all of our extracts we made, MeOH and H2O, had antibacterial activity. To explain this we placed the ecoli bacteria on top of LB agar in a pertri dish. There was a clearing of 2-3mm around the paper filter disk soaked in our extracts. This means that our plants have the potential to be medicines. This type of assay is important to biotechnology because scientist are always looking for new potential medicines. With certain resources beginning to diminish it is important that we find new ones to keep the balance. It is also important to have biodiversity. If we are continuously using the same materials for medicines our bodies will soon build up a resistance and the medicines will no longer have an affect on our body. By adding biodiversity we can insure that medicines will continue to work. With this assay we can help make just that happen.