Hirudin hirudin. Hirudin Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as "Hirudo medicinalis") that has a blood anticoagulant property. This is fundamental for the leeches’ alimentary habit of hematophagy, since it keeps the blood flowing after the initial phlebotomy performed by the worm on the host’s skin. During his years in Birmingham and Edinburgh, John Berry Haycraft had been actively engaged in research and published papers on the coagulation of blood, and in 1884, he discovered that the leech secreted a powerful anticoagulant, which he named hirudin, although it was not isolated until the
Naturally occurring phenols human gene encoding a phenol UDP glucuronosyltransferase active on simple phenols. The enzyme encoded by the gene UGT1A8 has glucuronidase activity with many substrates including coumarins, anthraquinones and flavones. Naturally occurring phenols In biochemistry, naturally occurring phenols refers to phenol functional group that is found in natural products. Phenolic compounds are are produced by plants and microorganisms. Organisms sometimes synthesize phenolic compounds in response to ecological pressures such as pathogen and insect attack, UV radiation and wounding. As they are present in food consumed in human diets and in plants used in traditional medicine of several cultures, their role in