Preparation of erythromycin analogs having functional groups at C-15.

Chemobiosynthesis has been used to prepare analogs of erythromycins having unique functional groups at the 15-position. Using diketide thioester feeding to genetically engineered Streptomyces coelicolor, analogs of 6-deoxyerythronolide B were prepared having 15-fluoro, 15-chloro, and 15-azido groups. Bioconversion using a genetically engineered mutant of Saccharopolyspora erythraea was used to produce 15-fluoroerythromycin A and 15-azidoerythromycin A. These new erythromycin analogs provide antibacterial macrolides with unique physicochemical properties and functional groups that allow for selective derivatization.

Assessment of fed-batch, semicontinuous, and continuous epothilone D production processes.

Epothilone D is a member of a class of potent antineoplastic natural products produced by myxobacteria. Previously, we have described a fed-batch epothilone D production process in which an adsorber resin is incorporated into the bioreactor setup to capture and stabilize the product in situ, preventing its degradation within the bioreactor. The capture of epothilone D by these relatively large resin beads enables the development of continuous and semicontinuous culturing systems incorporating bead retention mechanisms to completely retain the product within the bioreactor, increasing the epothilone D product titer by almost 3-fold in both cases over a baseline fed-batch system. These product retention strategies, described here for production of the epothilones, are generally applicable to any system using adsorber resins as a method to capture product during a microbial cultivation.

Control of secondary metabolite congener distributions via modulation of the dissolved oxygen tension.

Many secondary metabolites, including various polyketides, require complex enzymatic pathways for modification into their final biologically active forms. Limitation of the dissolved oxygen supplied during cultivation of various microbial strains can decrease the activity of cytochrome P-450 monooxygenases required for the processing of pathway intermediates into their final forms, resulting in the accumulation of these intermediates as the primary products. Here, a generalized oxygen-limited cultivation strategy is specifically demonstrated with a myxobacterial strain engineered to heterologously express the epothilone polyketide synthase (PKS) gene cluster under either an excess (the dissolved oxygen tension is maintained at 50% of saturation) or a depleted (no residual dissolved oxygen detected) level of oxygenation during cultivation. Cultivation of this myxobacterial strain with excess oxygenation resulted in the production of epothilones A and B as the primary products, while cultivation of this same strain under depleted oxygenation resulted in the production of epothilones C and D as the primary products. Additionally, the peak cell density in the oxygen-depleted cultivations was 60% higher than that observed in oxygen-excess cultivations. Finally, an active EpoK epoxidase was found to catalyze the production of a novel epothilone (Epo506) with an unexpected structure during the cultivation of another myxobacterial strain expressing a genetically modified epothilone PKS under excess oxygenation. The structure of Epo506 was determined by high-resolution mass spectrometry and one- and two-dimensional NMR.

Production of 8-demethylgeldanamycin and 4,5-epoxy-8-demethylgeldanamycin from a recombinant strain of Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

Two new geldanamycin derivatives produced by genetic engineering of Streptomyces hygroscopicus strain K309-27-1 were isolated and characterized. Removal of the 8-methyl group of geldanamycin was achieved by replacing the AT4 domain of the polyketide synthase with a malonyl AT domain. The resulting strain produced 8-demethyl geldanamycin (2) and 4,5-epoxy-8-demethylgeldanamycin (3). The structures of both molecules were elucidated through interpretation of 1D and 2D NMR data as well as comparison with authentic geldanamycin derivatives. Compounds 2 and 3 displayed moderate cytotoxicity against the human breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3.

Isolation and characterization of new epothilone analogues from recombinant Myxococcus xanthus fermentations.

Nine new epothilone analogues (6-8, 10, 11a, 11b, 12, 13, and 15) were isolated from fermentations of Myxococcus xanthus strains engineered with modified polyketide synthase genes. The epothilone structures were elucidated primarily through interpretation of 1D and 2D NMR data. 4-Desmethyl-10,11-didehydroepothilone D (6) displayed activity against several tumor cell lines, including a multi-drug-resistant cell line.

Large-scale isolation and crystallization of epothilone D from Myxococcus xanthus cultures.

The introduction of the epothilone polyketide synthase (PKS) into Myxococcus xanthus has enabled the heterologous production of epothilone D (1) on a large scale. To isolate this valuable product from the fermentation medium, an economical, scalable, and high-yielding purification process was developed. With the crystallization of 1 from a binary solvent system that consisted of ethanol and water, the product was recovered as white crystals with a final purity of > or =97% (w/w). This is the first reported crystallization of 1.