Medicinal plants growing in the Judea region: network approach for searching potential therapeutic targets

• Main Authors: Arie Budovsky, Vadim E. Fraifeld
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 2012-09-01
• Series: Network Biology
• Subjects: Judea region; medicinal plants; chemotypes; human targets; networks; age-related diseases
• Online Access: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/articles/2012-2(3)/medicinal-plants-growing-in-the-Judea-region.pdf

Plants growing in the Judea region are widely used in traditional medicine of the Levant region. Nevertheless, they have not so far been sufficiently analyzed and their medicinal potential has not been evaluated. This study is the first attempt to fill the gap in the knowledge of the plants growing in the region. Comprehensive data mining of online botanical databases and peer-reviewed scientific literature including ethno-pharmacological surveys from the Levant region was applied to compile a full list of plants growing in the Judea region, with the focus on their medicinal applications. Around 1300 plants growing in the Judea region were identified. Of them, 25% have medicinal applications which were analyzed in this study. Screening for chemical-protein interactions, together with the network-based analysis of potential targets, will facilitate discovery and therapeutic applications of the Judea region plants. Such an approach could also be applied as an integrative platform for further searching the potential therapeutic targets of plants growing in other regions of the world.