Analytical profiling of biosynthetic intermediates involved in the gentamicin pathway of Micromonospora echinospora by high-performance liquid chromatography using electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection.

In the present study, we developed a sensitive and highly selective method of detecting the biosynthetic intermediates involved in the gentamicin pathway from a cell culture of Micromonospora echinospora. A novel extraction method utilizing a dual solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique was employed to purify and recover all of the gentamicin-related components from the cell culture broth, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) was used to analyze the extractant for gentamicin intermediates. The pH of the culture broth was adjusted to an acidic condition of pH 2 prior to the extraction. The samples were first cleaned with a reversed-phase AccuBOND C(18) cartridge, and then the aminoglycosidic components were purified using a cationic exchanger OASIS MCX cartridge. The detection limit of a gentamicin standard spiked in blank medium processed by this method was found to be approximately 5 ng for each component of the gentamicin C complex, and the mean recovery for each component of standard gentamicin was above 91% when analyzed by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. We further demonstrated that this method enables the analytical profiling of the gentamicin-related compounds produced by wild-type M. echinospora ATCC 15835, which mainly produces the gentamicin C complex, and the UV-induced mutant strain KCTC 10506BP, which produces gentamicin B as the major product. Seven intermediates (paromamine, gentamicin A2, B, X2, A, JI-20A, and JI-20B) besides the gentamicin C complex were detected in the culture broth of both M. echinospora strains when analyzed by MS/MS for the distinct fragmentation patterns of each gentamicin component. This report displays the first example of the HPLC profiling in a wide range of structurally related biosynthetic intermediates involved in the gentamicin pathway.

Functional analysis of desVIII homologues involved in glycosylation of macrolide antibiotics by interspecies complementation.

The DesVIII is an auxiliary protein which enhances the transfer of TDP-d-desosamine catalyzed by DesVII glycosyltransferase in the biosynthesis of macrolide antibiotics, neomethymycin, methymycin and pikromycin, in Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 15439. Homologues of the desVIII gene are present in a number of aminosugar-containing antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters including eryCII from the erythromycin producer Saccharopolyspora erythraea, oleP1 from the oleandomycin producer Streptomyces antibioticus, dnrQ from the doxorubicin producer Streptomyces peucetius, and tylMIII from the tylosin producer Streptomyces fradiae. In order to gain further insight into the function of these DesVIII homologues, interspecies complementation experiments were carried out by expressing each gene in a desVIII deletion mutant strain of S. venezuelae. Complementation by expressing EryCII, OleP1, and DnrQ in this mutant strain restored the production of glycosylated macrolides to an approximate level of 66%, 26% and 26%, respectively, compared to self-complementation by DesVIII. However, expression of TylMIII did not restore the antibiotic production. These results suggest that the DesVIII homologues (except for TylMIII) can functionally replace the native DesVIII for glycosylation to proceed in vivo and their functions are similar in acting as glycosyltransferase auxiliary proteins. The requirement of glycosyltransferase auxiliary protein seems to be more widespread in polyketide biosynthetic pathways than previously known.

A new imidazolium cavitand for the recognition of dicarboxylates.

[structure: see text] A new cavitand bearing four imidazolium groups was synthesized for the recognition of anions through (C-H)+...X- hydrogen bond formation. The binding properties toward various anions including dicarboxylates were examined on the basis of 1H NMR spectroscopic experiments.