Biological sources, examples

Textile dyes were, until the nineteenth century invention of aniline dyes, derived from biological sources plants or animals, eg, insects or, as in the case of the highly prized classical dyestuff Tyrian purple, a shellfish. Some of these natural dyes are so-caUed vat dyes, eg, indigo and Tyrian purple, in which a chemical modification after binding to the fiber results in the intended color. Some others are direct dyes, eg, walnut sheU and safflower, that can be apphed directly to the fiber. The majority, however, are mordant dyes a metal salt precipitated onto the fiber facUitates the binding of the dyestuff Aluminum, iron, and tin salts ate the most common historical mordants. The color of the dyed textile depends on the mordant used for example, cochineal is crimson when mordanted with aluminum, purple with iron, and scarlet with tin (see Dyes AND DYE INTERMEDIATES). 

Traditionally, carotenoids have been given trivial names derived usually from the biological source from which they are isolated, but a semisystematic scheme has been devised that allows carotenoids to be named unambiguously and in a way that defines and describes their structure (Table 7.2). Specific names are based on the stem name carotene preceded by the Greek-letter prefixes that designate the two end groups. For example, 3-carotene is correctly referred to as p, p-carotene, and a-carotene as p, e-carotene. 

In addition to chemical-based drugs, a range of pharmaceutical substances (e.g. hormones and blood products) are produced by/extracted from biological sources. Such products, some major examples of which are listed in Table 1.2, may thus be described as products of biotechnology. In some instances, categorizing pharmaceuticals as products of biotechnology or chemical synthesis becomes somewhat artificial. For example, certain semi-synthetic antibiotics are produced by chemical modification of natural antibiotics produced by fermentation technology. 

It overcomes problems of product safety. Direct extraction of product from some native biological sources has, in the past, led to the unwitting transmission of disease. Examples include the transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) via infected blood products and the transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to persons receiving human growth hormone (GH) preparations derived from human pituitaries. 

D-Glucofuranosylamine)uronic acids attained biological significance after nucleoside antibiotics containing hexuronic acid residues were isolated from natural sources examples are gougerotin and blasticidin S. 

Complete sequencing of this peptide requires acquisition of additional tandem mass spectra, preferably MS3 fragmentation, of one of the low-mass y-ions. Because the peptide of interest is derived from a biological source, yet another possibility might be the use of sequence databases, similarly to the previous example. Actually, this approach works very well in this case, allowing identification of the peptide of interest as H-LGEYGFQNALIVR-OH, the 421-433 fragment of bovine serum albumin. 

As discussed in detail in Chapter 14.B.2c, chemical sources of NzO have also been proposed, in addition to the biological sources, to explain discrepancies in the measured isotope distribution of NzO in the atmosphere and potential imbalances in the sources and sinks of NzO (e.g., Prather, 1998). For example, Zipf and Prasad (1998b) observed NzO formation when 02 was dissociated to generate oygen atoms in the presence of N2. They proposed that highly vibrationally excited O-, formed in the O + 02 recombination reacted with N2 to generate NzO. 

The appearance of thiophenes in fuel sources is reported in an abundance of papers. (See for recent examples in coal (30) in oil shale liquification fluids (31) in crude oil (32)). However, if attention is restricted primarily to modem geological settings, such as modern sediments, the reports of S-heterocycle occurrence are minuscule in comparison. Whelan ana co-workers detected thiophene, 2-methyl- and 3-methylthiophene in a modern marine sediment (33)- The occurrence of these compounds was ascribed either to a biological source or to a low-temperature reaction. Brassell and co-workers found an... 

Some biological sources of DNA such as bacteria and plants contain a large amount of undesirable biomolecules that coprecipitate with DNA in the presence of salt and ethanol. These include polysaccharides and RNA. These contaminants may make it difficult to dissolve the DNA or interfere in its subsequent use. The amount of RNA contamination is variable, depending on the tissue. For example, when isolating DNA from yeast, a large amount of RNA gets coprecipitated along with DNA. Since RNA also absorbs at 260 nm, it can lead to overestimation of DNA concentration in a sample. 

Pure enantiomers of optically active compounds are often obtained by isolation from biological sources. Most optically active molecules are found as only one enantiomer in living organisms. For example, pure (+ )-tartaric acid can be isolated from the precipitate formed by yeast during the fermentation of wine. Pure ( + )-glucose is obtained from... 

Total synthesis of peptides is rarely an economical method for their commercial production. Important peptides are usually derived from biological sources. For example, insulin for diabetics was originally taken from pork pancreas. Now, recombinant DNA techniques have improved the quality and availability of peptide pharmaceuticals. It is possible to extract the piece of DNA that contains the code for a particular protein, insert it into a bacterium, and induce the bacterium to produce the protein. Strains of Escherichia coli have been developed to produce human insulin that avoids dangerous reactions in people who are allergic to pork products. 

To discuss the range of possibilities of why biomineralize we utilized plants, but there are parallels when assessing the possible reasons for biomineralization in other life forms, some of which have been mentioned or alluded to in the body of those sections. Our purpose has been to accentuate the cross-overs between the Earth and the biological sources for nutrients (and hazards) for all forms of life. We underscored the case of biomineralization in plants, because we and all land-based and most marine life must feed upon them. There are, of course, many agricultural examples which have not been included herein. The fact is that biomineralized tissues do reflect the environment and have become one of the important areas for future geochemical research. 

Reactions in which bonds to chiral centers are not broken can be used to get one more highly important kind of information the specific rotations of optically pure compounds. For example, the 2-methyl-1-butanol obtained from fusel oil (which happens to have specific rotation -5.756°) is optically pure—like most chiral compounds from biological sources—that is, it consists entirely of the one enantiomer, and contains none of its mirror image. When this material is treated with hydrogen chloride, the l-chloro-2-methylbutanc obtained is found to have specific rotation of 4-1.64°. Since no bond to the chiral center is broken, eveyy... 

Marine waters also receive some biogenic silica from the land. This material is transported to the sea as windblown dust and as part of the suspended load of rivers. Rivers also deliver about 0.43 Pg of dissolved silica annually to the oceans, and some fraction of this is undoubtedly derived from biological sources as well. Locally, terrigenous biogenic silica (in particulate form) may accumulate to significant concentrations on the sea floor. For example, Kolbe (1957) reported frequent occurrences of phytoliths and freshwater diatom frustules in deep-sea cores from the equatorial Atlantic, and one locahty contained diatom tests derived exclusively from freshwater species. 

As already stated, the source of biological material is also important either due to its accessibility (i.e., noninvasive nature) or due to the fact that the analytes to be measured are restricted to certain locations. Biomarkers can be detected in all biological entities (i.e., fluids, gases, and tissues), and depending on what is to be measured each biological source has a specific niche. For example the fact that alcohol is excreted in the lung, combined with the convenience of using exhaled air, has been exploited for many years in the breathalyzer test as an indirect measurement of blood alcohol levels [5 ]. Stool is commonly used for the detection of parasites and infections. Tears have been proposed to detect and treat ocular toxicity [6], Urine has also been used extensively to measure both renal and non-renal injuries. However, for the most part, blood (serum or plasma) and urine are the most utilized sources. 

---