Advances in AI-based strategies and tools to facilitate natural product and drug development

Natural products and their derivatives have been important for treating diseases in humans, animals, and plants. However, discovering new structures from natural sources is still challenging. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has greatly aided the discovery and development of natural products and drugs. AI facilitates to: connect genetic data to chemical structures or vice-versa, repurpose known natural products, predict metabolic pathways, and design and optimize metabolites biosynthesis. More recently, the emergence and improvement in neural networks such as deep learning and ensemble automated web based bioinformatics platforms have sped up the discovery process. Meanwhile, AI also improves the identification and structure elucidation of unknown compounds from raw data like mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. This article reviews these AI-driven methods and tools, highlighting their practical applications and guide for efficient natural product discovery and drug development.