Natural Products, Medicinal Plants & Marine Drugs

The Hawaiian Islands are the most remote dry land on earth. They are located almost 2,400 miles from California, 3,800 miles from Japan, and 2,400 miles from the Marquesas Islands, from which the first settlers arrived in Hawaii around 300-400 AD. The natural resources of Hawaii are unique due to its mid-oceanic environment with ecologically rich habitats, which present a wide variety of terrestrial ecosystems including tropical rain forests, coastlines, and marine life. From literature and unpublished sources, approximately 21,383 species have been recorded from the Hawaiian Islands and surrounding waters, of which 8,759 are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and 4,532, are nonindigenous species. Of these, approximately 15,000 species are terrestrial, 300 are found in freshwater, and 5,500 are marine-inhabiting. Literature search also revealed that Hawaiian microorganisms, especially marine and endophytic fungi are under-explored. Investigation of Hawaiian fungi isolated from marine and plants led to the discovery of many new and diverse molecules, for examples peyronellins and paraphaeosphaerides