The need for new drugs for the benefit of humankind is growing steadily and continuously increasing. Natural products investigation and research for new bioactive compounds which could be applied in agriculture, veterinary, and medicine is also in expansion. Research in the area of biological potential of natural products with antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-diabetic and other properties, is focused on several plant species.

The Asteraceae plant family is well known for being used in ethnomedicine and represents the most numerous family in plant kingdom. Asteraceae comprises approximately 10% of angiosperm species, with 1700 genera and around 24000 species of shrubs and trees distributed throughout the world, more commonly in arid and semi-arid regions of subtropical and lower temperate latitudes. Members of the Asteraceae family have been used worldwide in ethnomedicine, and and they have horticultural as well as economical importance. Not only they provide culinary products, but these species could also be a new sources of biologically active secondary metabolites. They constitute valuable chemotaxonomic markers and might be also decisive for the medicinal value of the raw material. Taken together, the literature available to date suggests that Asteraceae species could find more practical applications, on larger/industrial scale, in the prevention, protection and treatment of various disorders in animals and humans.

In this Research Topic we welcome Reviews and Original research Articles aimed at improving our knowledge and understanding of Asteraceae plants bioactive metabolites.
More specifically, this Research Topic welcomes studies focused on:
• Metabolites of known chemical composition, isolated from different species of the targeted family, which were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively for various biological activities.
• Isolation, structural elucidation and biological potential, regarding antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antitumour, cytotoxic properties and other active properties of metabolites from Asteraceae species around the world.
• Investigation regarding the methodology for extraction, isolation and identification. Analysis of the limitations and benefits of these methodologies are also welcome.
• Chemical characterization and biological potential of different Asteraceae metabolites e.g. lipids, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, sesquiterpene lactones, essential oils, and others compounds.
• Structure-activity relationships that could help the understanding of the bioactivity of different compounds. These results should be discussed with an eye on the mechanisms of the compounds' activities, in order to promote the identification of novel candidates for drug development.
• Research performed on the basis of in vitro, in vivo or clinical evaluations on the major pharmacological activities of the metabolites from different Asteraceae species.
• Future trends and utilization of this knowledge.

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Frontiers in Plant Science

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