High specificity, less reagent requirement, swift response time, and high
throughput screening make biosensors popular for detecting disease biomarkers,
monitoring diseases, drug discovery, and other ecological applications such as the
detection of environmental pollutants. Emerging health disorders demand targeted
drugs with lower side effects in terms of advancing towards a low medicinal load.
Active ingredients present in the different parts of plants and microorganisms have
been used for several medical purposes for ages. Recent research has identified
multiple promising natural bioactive compounds possessing the potential to mitigate
several life-threatening diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, and Neurological disorders.
Identifying such bioactive chemicals in the crude extract from various plant sources
like leaves, roots, bark, fruits, and seeds, as well as in microbial extracts, is a tedious
work that requires complex instrument setups, lengthy methods, and plenty of time,
sometimes many years. The development and use of biosensors for natural bioactive
moieties can overcome such problems and expedite the drug discovery process. This
chapter provides a summary of the available biosensors for bioactive chemicals
detection in extracts and fractions of organisms/plants, their types, design, and methods
used for that purpose. Moreover, the chapter highlights the current use and the progress
of the development of biosensors for identifying bioactive natural compounds.
Keywords: Biosensors, Cell-free biosensor, Cell-based biosensor, Nano-based biosensor, Phytochemicals.
