AVANÇOS EM TÉCNICAS ÔMICAS NA DESCOBERTA E NO ESTUDO DE PRODUTOS NATURAIS

ADVANCES IN OMICS TECHNIQUES FOR THE DISCOVERY AND STUDY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS. Humanity has historically turned to nature to treat diseases, with records dating back to the Neanderthals, who already used medicinal plants. To this date, biologically active natural products (NP) remain indispensable sources in drug development for several therapeutic areas, due to their vast structural diversity and unique ability to interact with specific biological targets. With the advancement of omics sciences, NP research has been revolutionized by omics approaches such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. These techniques are widely applied to identify biosynthetic pathways and search for new therapeutic targets, utilizing plants, microorganisms, and other natural sources. The integration of these approaches into multi-omics strategies has proven to be highly effective for the discovery of new NPs, offering significant advantages and avoiding the re-isolation of already known molecules. Furthermore, they provide a comprehensive view of the molecular mechanisms involved in NP production, enabling more targeted and efficient exploration. This combination of multidisciplinary approaches is crucial for the development of more selective and effective drugs, contributing to the advancement of safer and more innovative treatments. This review will contextualize the main omics techniques used in NP discovery, while providing examples of their use and new perspectives in NP discovery.