First Evidence of Dehydroabietic Acid Production by a Marine Phototrophic Gammaproteobacterium, the Purple Sulfur Bacterium Allochromatium vinosum MT86.

The production of secondary metabolites by a new isolate of the purple sulfur bacterium Allochromatium vinosum, which had shown antibiotic activities during a preliminary study, revealed the production of several metabolites. Growth conditions suitable for the production of one of the compounds shown in the metabolite profile were established and compound 1 was purified. The molecular formula of compound 1 (C20H28O2) was determined by high resolution mass spectra, and its chemical structure by means of spectroscopic methods. The evaluation of these data revealed that the structure of the compound was identical to dehydroabietic acid, a compound known to be characteristically produced by conifer trees, but so far not known from bacteria, except cyanobacteria. The purified substance showed weak antibiotic activities against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus lentus with IC50 values of 70.5 µM (±2.9) and 57.0 µM (±3.3), respectively.