Pradimicin U, a promising antimicrobial agent isolated from a newly found Nonomuraea composti sp. nov.

Pradimicin U is a new dihydrobenzo[a]naphthacenequinone compound found to be active on a screen designed to investigate compounds with antimicrobial activity, produced by the actinomycete designated strain FMUSA5-5T. The strain was isolated from a bio-fertilizer of Musa spp. collected from Suphanburi province, Thailand. The chemotaxonomic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that strain FMUSA5-5T is a member of the genus Nonomuraea. Low genome-based taxonomic criteria, average nucleotide identity (ANI) (82.8-88.3%), average amino-acid identity (AAI) (79.4-87.3%), and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) (29.5-38.5%) values and several phenotypic differences between strain FMUSA5-5T and its closest type strains of the genus Nonomuraea indicated that strain FMUSA5-5T represents a novel species of the genus Nonomuraea and the name Nonomuraea composti sp. nov. is proposed for the strain. The crude extract from the culture broth of strain FMUSA5-5T displayed promising antimicrobial activity against several pathogens and led to the isolation of a novel secondary metabolite, pradimicin U. Interestingly, this compound displayed a broad spectrum of biological activities such as antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum K1 (IC50 value = 3.65 µg/mL), anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra (MIC value = 25.0 µg/mL), anti-Alternaria brassicicola BCC 42724 (MIC value = 25.0 µg/mL), anti-Bacillus cereus ATCC 11778 and anti-Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 (MIC values = 6.25 and 1.56 µg/mL, respectively). Moreover, the compound possessed strong anti-human small cell lung cancer (NCI-H187) activity with IC50 value of 5.69 µg/mL, while cytotoxicity against human breast cancer (MCF-7) and Vero cells was very weak (IC50 values of 52.49 and 21.84 µg/mL, respectively).

Description of Streptomyces siderophoricus sp. nov., a promising nocardamine-producing species isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Mangifera indica.

An actinomycete, designated strain CH9-7T, was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Mangifera indica. The morphological and chemotaxonomic properties, such as the production of spiral spore chains and the presence of LL-diaminopimelic acid in the peptidoglycan, showed that it belongs to the genus Streptomyces. Based on the 16S rRNA gene analysis, it was confirmed that strain CH9-7T was a member of the genus Streptomyces and revealed 99.9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to its closest relative strains, Streptomyces lydicus NBRC 13058 T and Streptomyces chattanoogensis NBRC 12754 T. Although the strain showed high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values, however, genome relatedness indexes exhibited that the average nucleotide identity based on the MUMmer (ANIm) algorithm, the average amino acid identity (AAI), and the digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain CH9-7T and its closest phylogenomic relatives were below the threshold values for delineation of a novel species, (ANIm ranging from 87.5 to 88.6, AAI ranging from 80.6 to 84.6, and dDDH ranging from 28.4 to 31.7), respectively. A taxonomic position of strain CH9-7T in the phylogenomic tree showed that the closest relative strain was S. lydicus NBRC 13058 T. The comparative phenotypic studies between strain CH9-7T and its closest relatives revealed that strain CH9-7T could be classified as a novel species of the genus Streptomyces. Thus, the name Streptomyces siderophoricus sp. nov. is proposed for the strain. The type strain is CH9-7T ( = TBRC 17833 T = NBRC 116426 T). The chemical investigation led to the isolation of four known compounds (compounds 1-4). Among these compounds, compound 1 was identified to be nocardamine, a promising bioactive substance.

Antioxidant, DNA damage protective, neuroprotective, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of a flavonoid glycoside from leaves of Garcinia gracilis

Abstract The leaves of Garcinia gracilis Pierre, Clusiaceae, have been used as flavouring materials in food, with no previous reports of their biological activities and chemical constituents. In this study, the methanolic extract of G. gracilis afforded three compounds namely apigenin-8-C-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde, and vanillic acid. All of the isolates were initially evaluated for superoxide anion radical scavenging activity and α-glucosidase inhibitory effects. Compound 1, which was the major component, showed the most potent activities among these three isolates. Further biological evaluations revealed that compound 1 could prevent the pBR322 plasmid DNA damage induced by the photochemical reaction of riboflavin and protect P19-derived neurons from the oxidative stress condition induced by serum deprivation. It was concluded that the potent biological activities of G. gracilis could be attributed to the synergistic effect of compound 1 with other constituents found in the plant.