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SANCDB: a South African natural compound database.
Rowan Hatherley1, David K Brown1, Thommas M Musyoka1
1Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Journal of Cheminformatics
|June 23, 2015
Summary
South Africa now has its first online natural products database, SANCDB, to aid drug discovery. This curated resource supports in silico screening and community-driven research growth.
Area of Science:
- Natural Products Research
- Drug Discovery
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Natural products (NPs) are crucial for drug discovery.
- South African NP research is expanding.
- No dedicated online database for South African NPs existed previously.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the South African natural compound database (SANCDB).
- To provide a freely accessible online resource for South African NPs.
- To facilitate in silico screening for drug discovery.
Main Methods:
- Developed SANCDB, a curated database of 600 natural products.
- Created a user-friendly web interface for searching compounds.
- Implemented a submission pipeline for researcher contributions.
Main Results:
- SANCDB is the first web-based NP database in Africa.
- The database is fully referenced with links to original sources.
- It allows searching compounds by various criteria.
Conclusions:
- SANCDB serves as a valuable resource for South African NP drug discovery.
- The database is designed for community-driven growth via submissions.
- It represents a foundational platform for advancing NP research in South Africa.
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