Coniothyrione: anatomy of a structure revision.

Coniothyrione is a xanthone-derived antibiotic reported several years ago by researchers at Merck & Co. Inc. Revision of the position of the chloro substitution was recently proposed on the basis of empirical reinterpretation of the carbon chemical shift data and a hypothetical biosynthetic argument without the acquisition of any new spectral data to support the postulated change in substituent location. The originally published HMBC data lead to an equivocal assignment of the structure and do not provide a solid basis of support for either structure. Neural network (13)C chemical shift calculations and density functional theory calculations also led to undifferentiated structures. Definitive confirmation of the structure of coniothyrione based on the acquisition and interpretation of 1,1-ADEQUATE and inverted (1)J(CC) 1,n-ADEQUATE data is now reported.

Isolation, enzyme-bound structure and antibacterial activity of platencin A1 from Streptomyces platensis.

Natural products continue to serve as one of the best sources for discovery of antibacterial agents as exemplified by the recent discoveries of platensimycin and platencin. Chemical modifications as well as discovery of congeners are the main sources for gaining knowledge of structure-activity relationship of natural products. Screening for congeners in the extracts of the fermentation broths of Streptomyces platensis led to the isolation of platencin A(1), a hydroxy congener of platencin. The hydroxylation of the tricyclic enone moiety negatively affected the antibacterial activity and appears to be consistent with the hydrophobic binding pocket of the FabF. Isolation, structure, enzyme-bound structure and activity of platencin A(1) and two other congeners have been described.

Isolation, structure and antibacterial activity of pleosporone from a pleosporalean ascomycete discovered by using antisense strategy.

Protein synthesis is one of the best antibacterial targets that have led to the development of a number of highly successful clinical drugs. Protein synthesis is catalyzed by ribosome, which is comprised of a number of ribosomal proteins that help the catalysis process. Ribosomal protein S4 (RPSD) is one of the proteins that is a part of the ribosomal machinery and is a potential new target for the discovery of antibacterial agents. Screening of microbial extracts using antisense-sensitized rpsD Staphylococcus aureus strain led to the isolation of pleosporone, a new compound, with modest antibacterial activities with MIC ranging from 1 to 64 microg/mL. This compound showed the highest sensitivity for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, and exhibited MIC's of 4 and 1 microg/mL, respectively. Pleosporone showed modest selectivity for the inhibition of RNA synthesis compared to DNA and protein synthesis, and showed activity against HeLa cells. Isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of pleosporone have been described.

Thiazomycins, thiazolyl peptide antibiotics from Amycolatopsis fastidiosa.

Thiazolyl peptides are a class of highly rigid trimacrocyclic compounds consisting of varying but large numbers of thiazole rings. The need for new antibacterial agents to treat infections caused by resistant bacteria prompted a reinvestigation of this class, leading to the previous isolation of thiazolyl peptides, namely, thiazomycin (5) and thiazomycin A (6), congeners of nocathiacins (1-4). Continued chemical screening led to the isolation of six new thiazolyl peptide congeners (8-13), of which three had truncated structures lacking an indole residue. From these, compound 8 showed activity similar to thiazomycin. Two compounds (9 and 10) showed intermediate activities, and the three truncated compounds (11-13) were essentially inactive. The discovery of the truncated compounds revealed the minimal structural requirements for activity and suggested probable biosynthetic pathways for more advanced compounds. The isolation, structure elucidation, antibacterial activity, and proposed biogenesis of thiazomycins are herein described.

Structure and semisynthesis of platensimide A, produced by Streptomyces platensis.

Platensimycin and platencin are novel natural product antibiotics that inhibit bacterial growth by inhibiting condensing enzymes FabF and FabF/FabH of fatty acid biosynthesis pathways, respectively. Continued search for the natural congeners of these compounds led to the isolation of platensic acid, the free C-17 tetracyclic enoic acid, and platensimide A, a 2,4-diaminobutyric acid amide derivative. Isolation, structure, semisynthesis, and activity of these compounds are described.

Isolation, structure, and antibacterial activity of phaeosphenone from a Phaeosphaeria sp. discovered by antisense strategy.

Ribosomal protein S4 (RPSD), a part of the ribosomal small subunit, is one of the proteins that is a part of the ribosomal machinery and is a potential new target for the discovery of antibacterial agents. Continued screening of microbial extracts using antisense-sensitized rpsD Staphylococcus aureus strain led to the isolation of a new dimeric compound, phaeosphenone (2). Compound 2 showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, exhibiting MIC values ranging from 8 to 64 microg/mL. Phaeosphenone showed the highest sensitivity for Streptococcus pneumoniae (8 microg/mL) and inhibited the growth of Candida albicans with an MIC of 8 microg/mL. Phaeosphenone showed a modest selectivity for the inhibition of RNA synthesis over DNA and protein synthesis in S. aureus.

Isolation and structure elucidation of thiazomycin- a potent thiazolyl peptide antibiotic from Amycolatopsis fastidiosa.

Thiazolyl peptides are a class of rigid macrocyclic compounds richly populated with thiazole rings. They are highly potent antibiotics but none have been advanced to clinic due to poor aqueous solubility. Recent progress in this field prompted a reinvestigation leading to the isolation of a new thiazolyl peptide, thiazomycin, a congener of nocathiacins. Thiazomycin possesses an oxazolidine ring as part of the amino-sugar moiety in contrast to the dimethyl amino group present in nocathiacin I. The presence of the oxazolidine ring provides additional opportunities for chemical modifications that are not possible with other nocathiacins. Thiazomycin is extremely potent against Gram-positive bacteria both in vitro and in vivo. The titer of thiazomycin in the fermentation broth was very low compared to the nocathiacins I and III. The lower titer together with its sandwiched order of elution presented significant challenges in large scale purification of thiazomycin. This problem was resolved by the development of an innovative preferential protonation based one- and/or two-step chromatographic method, which was used for pilot plant scale purifications of thiazomycin. The isolation and structure elucidation of thiazomycin is herein described.

Isolation and insecticidal/anthelmintic activity of xanthonol, a novel bis-xanthone, from a non-sporulating fungal species.

Xanthonol, a novel dimeric xanthone, was isolated from a fermentation broth of a non-sporulating fungal species using Sephadex LH20 followed by HPLC and the structure elucidated by spectral analysis. Xanthonol exhibited insecticidal and anthelmintic activities against larvae of Lucilia sericata, Aedes aegypti, and Haemonchus contortus with LD90 of 33, 8, and 50 microg/ml, respectively.

Steroidal and triterpenoidal fungal metabolites as ligands of liver X receptors.

Cholesterol homeostasis is tightly controlled process that involves a variety of regulators including liver X receptors (LXR). Agonists of LXR are expected to increase cholesterol efflux, lower LDL, and raise HDL levels. Screening of a natural product library of microbial extracts using a LXR-scintillation proximity assay (SPA) binding assay and bioassay-guided fractionation of a number of fungal extracts led to the isolation of five ergostane and a cycloartane derivative. These compounds exhibited IC50 value ranging 0.5 approximately 9 microM in the binding assay for a-receptor and a number of these showed in vitro agonist activity in the coactivator association assays but lacked the cell based LXR activation. The isolation and LXR activity of these compounds are described.

Isolation and structures of novel fungal metabolites as chemokine receptor (CCR2) antagonists.

The chemokine receptor, CCR2, is predominantly expressed on monocytes/macrophages, and on a subset of memory T cells. It binds to several CC type chemokines of the monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP) family of which MCP-1 exhibits the highest affinity. CCR2/MCP-1 expression/association in monocyte/macrophage/T cells has been associated with inflammatory processes such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and atherosclerosis. Neutralization of CCR2 with either a peptide or receptor antagonist results in the prevention of joint swelling in rodent models of arthritis. In this paper, bioassay-guided discovery of CCR2 receptor antagonists derived from natural product extracts are reported. These antagonists belong to two main classes exemplified by bisthiodiketopiperazines and cytochalasins. Six compounds, including emestrin, two new emestrin analogs, and chaetomin represent the first group of compounds. These compounds inhibited the binding of MCP-1 to CCR2 (CHO membrane) with IC50 values of 0.8 to 9 microM and exhibited good activity in a whole cell assay using MCP-1 and human monocytes with IC50's ranging from 4-9 microM. Cytochalasins A and B represented the second group and inhibited the binding activity with IC50 values of 5 and 188 microM, respectively. This is the first report of natural product antagonists of the CCR2 receptor.

Isolation, structure and HIV-1 integrase inhibitory activity of exophillic acid, a novel fungal metabolite from Exophiala pisciphila.

HIV-1 integrase is one of the three enzymes that are critical for replication and spread of HIV and its inhibition is one of the most promising new drug targets for anti-retroviral therapy with potential advantage over existing therapies. This paper describes the isolation and structure elucidation of exophillic acid, a novel dimeric 2,4-dihydroxy alkyl benzoic acid, derived from Exophiala pisciphila, a fungus isolated from a soil sample collected in Georgia, USA. Exophillic acid (1) and aquastatin A (2), a related compound, inhibited the strand transfer reaction of HIV-1 integrase with IC50 values of 68 and 50 microM, respectively.

Isolation, structure elucidation and antibacterial activity of a new tetramic acid, ascosetin.

The ever-increasing bacterial resistance to clinical antibiotics is making many drugs ineffective and creating significant treatment gaps. This can be only circumvented by the discovery of antibiotics with new mechanisms of action. We report here the identification of a new tetramic acid, ascosetin, from an Ascomycete using the Staphylococcus aureus fitness test screening method. The structure was elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 2D NMR and HRMS. Relative stereochemistry was determined by ROESY and absolute configuration was deduced by comparative CD spectroscopy. Ascosetin inhibited bacterial growth with 2-16 µg ml(-1) MIC values against Gram-positive strains including methicillin-resistant S. aureus. It also inhibited the growth of Haemophilus influenzae with a MIC value of 8 µg ml(-1). It inhibited DNA, RNA, protein and lipid synthesis with similar IC50 values, suggesting a lack of specificity; however, it produced neither bacterial membrane nor red blood cell lysis. It showed selectivity for bacterial growth inhibition compared with fungal but not mammalian cells. The isolation, structure and biological activity of ascosetin have been detailed here.

Discovery of okilactomycin and congeners from Streptomyces scabrisporus by antisense differential sensitivity assay targeting ribosomal protein S4.

Protein synthesis inhibition is a highly successful target for developing clinically effective and safe antibiotics. There are several targets within the ribosomal machinery, and small ribosomal protein S4 (RPSD) is one of the newer targets. Screening of microbial extracts using antisense-sensitized rpsD Staphylococcus aureus strain led to isolation of okilactomycin and four new congeners from Streptomyces scabrisporus. The major compound, okilactomycin, was the most active, with a minimum detection concentration of 3-12 microg ml(-1) against antisense assay, and showed an MIC of 4-16 microg ml(-1) against Gram-positive bacteria, including S. aureus. The congeners were significantly less active in all assays, and all compounds showed a slight preferential inhibition of RNA synthesis over DNA and protein synthesis. Antisense technology, due to increased sensitivity, continues to yield new, even though weakly active, antibiotics.

Coniothyrione, a chlorocyclopentandienylbenzopyrone as a bacterial protein synthesis inhibitor discovered by antisense technology.

Bacterial protein synthesis inhibitors interact mainly with rRNA and to some extent ribosomal proteins, which are potential targets for developing new antibacterial agents. Specifically, the ribosomal protein S4 of the 30s ribosomal subunit known as ribosomal protein small-subunit D (rpsD) may be useful as a target. The antisense-rpsD gene-sensitized two-plate assay led to the discovery of a novel chlorinated cyclopentandienylbenzopyrone antibiotic, coniothyrione, C14H9ClO6, isolated from Coniothyrium cerealis MF7209. It exhibited liquid MICs of 16-32 microg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis and >64 microg/mL against Escherichia coli. Isolation, structure elucidation, and antibacterial activity of coniothyrione are described.

Highly substituted terphenyls as inhibitors of parasite cGMP-dependent protein kinase activity.

Parasite cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) is one of the validated biochemical targets for the treatment of coccidiosis. We screened our library of natural product extracts for inhibitors of parasite PKG for the discovery of anticoccidial leads. Terferol (1) and three new terphenyls (2, 3, and 4) were isolated using bioassay-guided fractionation of the microbial extract of a Phoma sp. by a high-throughput two-step isolation method employing LH-20 and reversed-phase HPLC. These compounds inhibited parasite PKG with IC(50) values in the range 0.9-5.8 microM.

Discovery of bacterial fatty acid synthase inhibitors from a Phoma species as antimicrobial agents using a new antisense-based strategy.

Fatty acids are essential for bacterial growth and viability, with the type II fatty acid synthesis (FAS II) pathway being a potential antibacterial target. A new, selective, and highly sensitive whole cell-based antisense strategy has been designed to screen for natural product inhibitors of FabH/F of the FAS II pathway using a high-throughput two-plate agar-based differential sensitivity assay (FabF(2)p). An antisense assay along with the FASII enzyme prepared from Staphylococcus aureus was used for bioactivity-guided fractionation, leading to the isolation of phomallenic acids A-C (1-3) from a leaf litter fungus identified as Phoma sp. Compounds 1-3 exhibited minimum detection concentrations (MDC) of 0.63, 0.31, and 0.15 microg/mL in the FabF(2P) assay, IC(50) values of 22, 3.4, and 0.77 microg/mL in the FASII enzyme assay, and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 250, 7.8, and 3.9 microg/mL, respectively, against wild-type S. aureus. Phomallenic acid C (3), the analogue with the longest chain, exhibited the best overall activity within the phomallenic acids obtained and was superior to cerulenin and thiolactomycin, the two most studied and commonly used FabF inhibitors.

Isolation, structure, and absolute stereochemistry of platensimycin, a broad spectrum antibiotic discovered using an antisense differential sensitivity strategy.

Fatty acids are essential for survival of bacteria and are synthesized by a series of enzymes including the elongation enzymes, beta-ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase I/II (FabF/B). Inhibition of fatty acid synthesis is one of the new targets for the discovery and development of antibacterial agents. Platensimycin (1a) is a novel broad spectrum Gram-positive antibiotic produced by Streptomyces platensis. It was discovered by target-based whole-cell screening strategy using antisense differential sensitivity assay. It inhibits bacterial growth by selectively inhibiting condensing enzyme FabF of the fatty acid synthesis pathway and was isolated by a two-step process, a capture step followed by reversed-phase HPLC. The structure was elucidated by 2D NMR methods and confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis of a bromo derivative. It was determined that potential reactivity of the enone moiety does not play a key role in the biological activity of platensimycin. However, cyclohexenone ring conformation renders for the stronger binding interaction with the enzyme. The isolation, structure elucidation, derivatization, and biological activity of 6,7-dihydroplatensimycin are described.

Discovery of FabH/FabF inhibitors from natural products.

Condensing enzymes are essential in type II fatty acid synthesis and are promising targets for antibacterial drug discovery. Recently, a new approach using a xylose-inducible plasmid to express antisense RNA in Staphylococcus aureus has been described; however, the actual mechanism was not delineated. In this paper, the mechanism of decreased target protein production by expression of antisense RNA was investigated using Northern blotting. This revealed that the antisense RNA acts posttranscriptionally by targeting mRNA, leading to 5' mRNA degradation. Using this technology, a two-plate assay was developed in order to identify FabF/FabH target-specific cell-permeable inhibitors by screening of natural product extracts. Over 250,000 natural product fermentation broths were screened and then confirmed in biochemical assays, yielding a hit rate of 0.1%. All known natural product FabH and FabF inhibitors, including cerulenin, thiolactomycin, thiotetromycin, and Tü3010, were discovered using this whole-cell mechanism-based screening approach. Phomallenic acids, which are new inhibitors of FabF, were also discovered. These new inhibitors exhibited target selectivity in the gel elongation assay and in the whole-cell-based two-plate assay. Phomallenic acid C showed good antibacterial activity, about 20-fold better than that of thiolactomycin and cerulenin, against S. aureus. It exhibited a spectrum of antibacterial activity against clinically important pathogens including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Haemophilus influenzae.

Tenellones A and B from a Diaporthe sp.: two highly substituted benzophenone inhibitors of parasite cGMP-dependent protein kinase activity.

Parasite cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) has been recently validated as a biochemical target for the treatment of coccidiosis. To discover new anticoccidial leads, we have screened our library of natural product extracts for inhibitors of parasite PKG. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the microbial extracts has led to the discovery of tenellones A (2) and B (3), two new highly substituted benzophenones. The isolation, structure, and activity of these compounds are described.

Guttiferone I, a new prenylated benzophenone from Garcinia humilis as a liver X receptor ligand.

Liver X receptors (LXR) have been implicated in cholesterol homeostasis. Agonists of LXR are expected to increase cholesterol efflux, lower LDL, and raise HDL levels. Screening of a natural product library of plant extracts using a LXR-SPA binding assay and bioassay-guided fractionation of the bark and stem extract of Garcinia humilis led to the discovery of a new polyisoprenylated benzophenone named guttiferone I (1). The IC(50) value for this compound in the LXRalpha-SPA binding assay was 3.4 muM. Details of the isolation, structure elucidation, and ligand binding activity of 1 are described.