Regeneration of Phytochemicals by Structure-Driven Organization of Microbial Biosynthetic Steps.

Medicinal phytochemicals, such as artemisinin and taxol, have impacted the world, and hypericin might do so if its availability issue could be addressed. Hypericin is the hallmark component of Saint John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.), an approved depression alleviator documented in the US, European, and British pharmacopoeias with its additional effectiveness against diverse cancers and viruses. However, the academia-to-industry transition of hypericin remain hampered by its low in planta abundance, unfeasible bulk chemical synthesis, and unclear biosynthetic mechanism. Here, we present a strategy consisting of the hypericin-structure-centered modification and reorganization of microbial biosynthetic steps in the repurposed cells that have been tamed to enable the designed consecutive reactions to afford hypericin (43.1 mg L-1 ), without acquiring its biosynthetic knowledge in native plants. The study provides a synthetic biology route to hypericin and establishes a platform for biosustainable access to medicinal phytochemicals.

Two new azaphilone pigments from Talaromyces albobiverticillius and their anti-inflammatory activity.

Two new azaphilone pigments, talaralbols A and B (3 and 7), along with five known azaphilone metabolites (1, 2, and 4-6), were isolated from the culture of Talaromyces albobiverticillius associated with the isopod Armadillidium vulgare. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of 1 D and 2 D NMR data, ECD calculations, chemical transformations, and NMR data analogy with model compounds. Talaralbol A (3) showed a moderate inhibition on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 cells with the inhibitory rate being 31.0% at the concentration of 10 µM.[Formula: see text].