A Priming Cassette Generates Hydroxylated Acyl Starter Units in Mupirocin and Thiomarinol Biosynthesis.

Mupirocin, a commercially available antibiotic produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 10586, and thiomarinol, isolated from the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. SANK 73390, both consist of a polyketide-derived monic acid homologue esterified with either 9-hydroxynonanoic acid (mupirocin, 9HN) or 8-hydroxyoctanoic acid (thiomarinol, 8HO). The mechanisms of formation of these deceptively simple 9HN and 8HO fatty acid moieties in mup and tml, respectively, remain unresolved. To define starter unit generation, the purified mupirocin proteins MupQ, MupS, and MacpD and their thiomarinol equivalents (TmlQ, TmlS and TacpD) have been expressed and shown to convert malonyl coenzyme A (CoA) and succinyl CoA to 3-hydroxypropionoyl (3-HP) or 4-hydroxybutyryl (4-HB) fatty acid starter units, respectively, via the MupQ/TmlQ catalyzed generation of an unusual bis-CoA/acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioester, followed by MupS/TmlS catalyzed reduction. Mix and match experiments show MupQ/TmlQ to be highly selective for the correct CoA. MacpD/TacpD were interchangeable but alternate trans-acting ACPs from the mupirocin pathway (MacpA/TacpA) or a heterologous ACP (BatA) were nonfunctional. MupS and TmlS selectivity was more varied, and these reductases differed in their substrate and ACP selectivity. The solution structure of MacpD determined by NMR revealed a C-terminal extension with partial helical character that has been shown to be important for maintaining high titers of mupirocin. We generated a truncated MacpD construct, MacpD_T, which lacks this C-terminal extension but retains an ability to generate 3-HP with MupS and MupQ, suggesting further downstream roles in protein-protein interactions for this region of the ACP.

Catalytic enantioselective diversity-oriented synthesis of a small library of polyhydroxylated pyrans inspired from thiomarinol antibiotics.

A small library of 30 thiomarinol analogues was successfully synthesised using as a key step-a catalytic enantioselective tandem oxa[4+2] cycloaddition/aldehyde allylboration methodology. With this method, highly substituted α-hydroxyalkyl dihydropyrans were assembled in a single three-component reaction utilizing three different enol ethers and a wide variety of aldehydes, such as aromatic, heteroaromatic, unsaturated and aliphatic aldehydes. In a second operation, a mild and direct method for reducing an acetal unit in the α-hydroxyalkyl dihydropyrans was optimised without the need for protecting a nearby hydroxyl group. This procedure facilitated the synthetic sequence, which was completed by a dihydroxylation of the residual olefin of α-hydroxyalkyl 2H-pyrans to provide the desired library of dihydroxylated pyran analogues reminiscent of the thiomarinol antibiotics. The relative stereochemistry of the resulting library compounds was demonstrated by X-ray crystallography on one of the analogues.

A unified strategy for the synthesis of the C1-C14 fragment of marinolic acids, mupirocins, pseudomonic acids and thiomarinols: total synthesis of pseudomonic acid methyl monate C.

A flexible stereoselective approach to the common C1-C14 skeleton present in natural products of the pseudomonic acid family is described. The strategy has been extended and the total synthesis of pseudomonic acid methyl monate C was achieved. The key synthetic reactions utilized include Achmatowicz rearrangement, Johnson-Claisen rearrangement, Julia-Kocienski olefination, and Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination reaction.

Dithiolopyrrolone natural products: isolation, synthesis and biosynthesis.

Dithiolopyrrolones are a class of antibiotics that possess the unique pyrrolinonodithiole (4H-[1,2] dithiolo [4,3-b] pyrrol-5-one) skeleton linked to two variable acyl groups. To date, there are approximately 30 naturally occurring dithiolopyrrolone compounds, including holomycin, thiolutin, and aureothricin, and more recently thiomarinols, a unique class of hybrid marine bacterial natural products containing a dithiolopyrrolone framework linked by an amide bridge with an 8-hydroxyoctanoyl chain linked to a monic acid. Generally, dithiolopyrrolone antibiotics have broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against various microorganisms, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and even parasites. Holomycin appeared to be active against rifamycin-resistant bacteria and also inhibit the growth of the clinical pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus N315. Its mode of action is believed to inhibit RNA synthesis although the exact mechanism has yet to be established in vitro. A recent work demonstrated that the fish pathogen Yersinia ruckeri employs an RNA methyltransferase for self-resistance during the holomycin production. Moreover, some dithiolopyrrolone derivatives have demonstrated promising antitumor activities. The biosynthetic gene clusters of holomycin have recently been identified in S. clavuligerus and characterized biochemically and genetically. The biosynthetic gene cluster of thiomarinol was also identified from the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. SANK 73390, which was uniquely encoded by two independent pathways for pseudomonic acid and pyrrothine in a novel plasmid. The aim of this review is to give an overview about the isolations, characterizations, synthesis, biosynthesis, bioactivities and mode of action of this unique family of dithiolopyrrolone natural products, focusing on the period from 1940s until now.

γ-Lactones from δ-lactones: total synthesis of the biosynthetic derailment product mupirocin H.

Two different strategies for the synthesis of functionalised γ-lactones from δ-lactones are described and used in a convergent synthesis of (+)-mupirocin H. The total synthesis is versatile and may be readily adapted for the preparation of further truncated metabolites from Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Total synthesis of (+)-mupirocin H from D-glucose.

Enantioselective total synthesis of mupirocin H is accomplished starting from D-glucose featuring strategic application of D-glucose derived chirality, diastereoselective Still-Barrish hydroboration, and further elaboration of carbon chain to furnish a phenyltetrazolyl sulfone intermediate, which on coupling with (2S,3S)-2-methyl-3-(triisopropylsilyloxy)butanal under Julia-Kocienski olefination conditions gave an advanced E-olefinic intermediate selectively. The E-olefin was transformed to the 4-hydroxynitrile, a prefinal substrate, which on acid-catalyzed oxidative lactonization furnished the target molecule mupirocin H in 19 steps from known compound 6 (longest linear sequence) with an overall yield of 4.96%.

Resistance to and synthesis of the antibiotic mupirocin.

Mupirocin, a polyketide antibiotic produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens, is used to control the carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus on skin and in nasal passages as well as for various skin infections. Low-level resistance to the antibiotic arises by mutation of the mupirocin target, isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, whereas high-level resistance is due to the presence of an isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase with many similarities to eukaryotic enzymes. Mupirocin biosynthesis is carried out by a combination of type I multifunctional polyketide synthases and tailoring enzymes encoded in a 75 kb gene cluster. Chemical synthesis has also been achieved. This knowledge should allow the synthesis of new and modified antibiotics for the future.

Synthesis and preliminary antibacterial evaluation of simplified thiomarinol analogs.

A series of simplified thiomarinol derivatives was prepared by way of catalytic enantioselective inverse electron demand hetero [4+2] cycloaddition/allylboration tandem reaction. As a preliminary evaluation, these analogs were tested for antimicrobial activity using a standard disk diffusion assay. Whereas amide analogs were less active, the simple ester analogs 3 and 4 were demonstrated to be more active than thiomarinol H.

Stereoselective synthesis of methyl monate C.

[Structure: see text] The stereoselective synthesis of methyl monate C 2 is described using as a key step an ene-intramolecular modified Sakurai cyclization (IMSC) reaction to prepare tetrahydropyran 5. An asymmetric allylic alkylation, followed by a cross-metathesis, enables the insertion of the right-hand side chain.

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of a potent thiomarinol antibiotic.

Thiomarinols, isolated from the bacterium Alteromonas rava sp. nov. SANK 73390, are potent marine antibiotics that possess both Gram-positive and Gram-negative activity. The first total synthesis of a member of the thiomarinol class of marine antibiotics was achieved in a remarkable global yield of 22% (from 3-boronoacrolein pinacolate). The highlight of this synthesis is the efficient catalytic enantio-, regio-, E/Z-, and diastereoselective three-component inverse electron demand Diels-Alder/allylboration sequence. This key operation provides a rare example of an enantioselective HDA reaction involving acyclic 2-substituted enol ethers, and it featured an unusual but fortuitous kinetic selection that favored the requisite Z-dienophile.

Synthesis and antibacterial properties of beta-diketone acrylate bioisosteres of pseudomonic acid A.

A series of beta-diketone acrylate bioisosteres 4 of pseudomonic acid A 1 have been synthesized and evaluated for their ability to inhibit bacterial isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase and act as antibacterial agents. A number of analogues have excellent antibacterial activity. Selected examples were shown to afford good blood levels and to be effective in a murine infection model.