Large-scale genome-mining analyses have identified an enormous number of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) as a great source of novel bioactive natural products. Given the sheer number of natural product (NP) candidates, effective strategies and computational methods are keys to choosing appropriate BGCs for further NP characterization and production. This review discusses genomics-based approaches for prioritizing candidate BGCs extracted from large-scale genomic data, by highlighting studies that have successfully produced compounds with high chemical novelty, novel biosynthesis pathway, and potent bioactivities. We group these studies based on their BGC-prioritization logics: detecting presence of resistance genes, use of phylogenomics analysis as a guide, and targeting for specific chemical structures. We also briefly comment on the different bioinformatics tools used in the field and examine practical considerations when employing a large-scale genome mining study.

Research on allergy has recently uncovered an apparent co-occurrence of allergies in skin and the lungs, a phenomenon that has been coined "atopic march". A positive correlation has been found between gut microbiota at birth and the development of asthma and skin eczema later in life. Chinese medicine has long described a functional relationship between the large intestine and the lungs, and between the lungs and skin. In this short article, we examined the evidence in support of these inter-organ physiological/pathological relationships. In addition to the clinical observation of the relationship between the composition of gut microbiota at birth and the development of asthma later in childhood, gut microorganisms have also been shown to exert a protective effect on bacteria-induced pneumonia in experimental animals. Genetic predisposition was also found to play an important role in the coexistence of certain diseases of lung and skin. Despite the fact that the mechanism(s) underlying the connection of immune systems between two organs (such as the large intestine and the lungs) is still not clearly understood, it is the first time to correlate the relationship among gut, lung and skin based on recent clinical studies in relation to the Zang-Fu Theory in Chinese medicine. Future investigation of the gut-lung and lung-skin axes in terms of physiological/pathological relationships may help to provide a greater understanding of the pathogenesis of allergies, possibly establishing relevance to the Zang-Fu Theory in Chinese medicine.