Nature remains one of the richest sources of pharmaceuticals, with over 20,000 microbial secondary metabolites identified to date. However, only a fraction of these compounds have made it into drug development pipelines. As synthetic chemical libraries and combinatorial chemistry compete for dominance in drug discovery, natural product research must become more efficient and strategic than ever before.
This review explores cutting-edge strategies to diversify microbial strains and natural product extract libraries for drug discovery. By refining every stage—from environmental sampling and strain selection to metabolic expression and genetic optimization—researchers can increase the chances of discovering novel, bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential. Reducing redundancy in both genetics and chemistry is a key priority.
The article highlights that while microbial natural products hold immense potential, their value lies in how effectively we can mine, express, and analyze them. With more targeted and efficient approaches, natural product discovery can remain a powerful engine for future pharmaceutical innovation.
