Introduction The islands of the Caribbean account for less than 0.03% of the world’s landmass and are enriched with a wide variety of flora and fauna. More than 2% of the world’s total number of plant and vertebrate species are endemic there [1]. Due to the regions rich diversity of flora and fauna, there is increasing interest in the isolation of natural products which have been found to possess a wide range of interesting biological activities. Hypoglycin A, an unusual amino acid, was initially isolated from the ackee fruit and has been the focus of many years of research due…
The Science Creative Quarterly
By andreagoldson
Andrea Goldson is originally from Jamaica, which is world renown for its athletes, Bob Marley and the movie Cool Runnings. In Jamaica she pursued both B. Sc. and Masters Degrees in the areas of Chemistry and Food Chemistry at the University of the West Indies. She is currently enrolled as a doctoral student in the Food Science Program at the University of British Columbia.
THE ACKEE FRUIT (BLIGHIA SAPIDA) AND ITS ASSOCIATED TOXIC EFFECTS
Introduction The islands of the Caribbean account for less than 0.03% of the world’s landmass and are enriched with a wide variety of flora and fauna. More than 2% of the world’s total number of plant and vertebrate species are endemic there [1]. Due to the regions rich diversity of flora and fauna, there is increasing interest in the isolation of natural products which have been found to possess a wide range of interesting biological activities. Hypoglycin A, an unusual amino acid, was initially isolated from the ackee fruit and has been the focus of many years of research due…