Saccharopolyspora: an underexplored source for bioactive natural products

Actinomycetes are a rich source for secondary metabolites with a diverse array of biological activities. Among the various genera of actinomycetes, the genus Saccharopolyspora has long been recognized as a potential source for antibiotics and other therapeutic leads that belong to diverse classes of natural products. Members of the genus Saccharopolyspora have been widely reported from several natural sources including both terrestrial and marine environments. A plethora of this genus has been chemically investigated for the production of novel natural products with interesting pharmacological effects. Therefore, Saccharopolyspora is considered one of the pharmaceutical important genera that could provide further chemical diversity with potential lead compounds. In this review, the literature from 1976 until December 2018 was covered, providing a comprehensive survey of all natural products derived from this genus and their semi-synthetic derivatives along with their biological activities, whenever applicable. Moreover, the biological diversity of Saccharopolyspora species and their habitats were also discussed.     

高寒特境中甸黄芪植物根际微生物物种多样性及其抗生物膜活性成分

滇西北高寒地区分布着丰富的黄芪属植物资源，该属植物“根际效应”明显，其根际微生物极具抗菌药用资源研究价值。【目的】认知滇西北高寒特境中甸黄芪根际微生物的物种多样性，探究其可培养菌株次生代谢产物的化学多样性及抗菌、抗生物膜活性。【方法】采用宏基因组和微生物纯培养方法对中甸黄芪植物根际微生物进行物种多样性分析，同时采用高效液相色谱（high performance liquid chromatography，HPLC）、超高效液相色谱-质谱联用法（ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry，UPLC-MS）结合“微量肉汤稀释法” “孔板法”等多级联合筛选策略综合评估可培养菌株的抗菌活性药源研究价值。【结果】对中甸黄芪根际土壤样本的微生物分类操作单元（operational taxonomic units，OTU）进行分类注释，得到22门54纲105目187科316属856种微生物，其中优势菌群为慢生根瘤菌属。纯培养共获得27属54种95株可培养菌株，包括20属33种54株细菌和7属21种41株真菌，优势属分别为芽孢杆菌属和青霉属。其中，1株细菌Pseudomonas tolaasii ZTB4和3株真菌Aspergillus tabacinus ZNF17、Lecanicillium aphanocladii ZNF15、Umbelopsis nana ZTF31的次生代谢产物具有广谱抗菌活性。同时，菌株ZTB4和ZNF17的次生代谢产物也显示出优秀的抗耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus，MRSA）生物膜活性，并已验证这2株菌株的主要活性成分分别为环脂肽类与黄酮类。【结论】中甸黄芪植物根际微生物物种多样性较为丰富，其可培养菌株次生代谢产物有较好的化学多样性和抗菌、抗生物膜活性。研究结果为我国特境特色微生物药用资源的开发利用提供理论依据。     

Secondary metabolites from plant-associated Pseudomonas are overproduced in biofilm

Plant rhizosphere soil houses complex microbial communities in which microorganisms are often involved in intraspecies as well as interspecies and inter-kingdom signalling networks. Some members of these networks can improve plant health thanks to an important diversity of bioactive secondary metabolites. In this competitive environment, the ability to form biofilms may provide major advantages to microorganisms. With the aim of highlighting the impact of bacterial lifestyle on secondary metabolites production, we performed a metabolomic analysis on four fluorescent Pseudomonas strains cultivated in planktonic and biofilm colony conditions. The untargeted metabolomic analysis led to the detection of hundreds of secondary metabolites in culture extracts. Comparison between biofilm and planktonic conditions showed that bacterial lifestyle is a key factor influencing Pseudomonas metabolome. More than 50% of the detected metabolites were differentially produced according to planktonic or biofilm lifestyles, with the four Pseudomonas strains overproducing several secondary metabolites in biofilm conditions. In parallel, metabolomic analysis associated with genomic prediction and a molecular networking approach enabled us to evaluate the impact of bacterial lifestyle on chemically identified secondary metabolites, more precisely involved in microbial interactions and plant-growth promotion. Notably, this work highlights the major effect of biofilm lifestyle on acyl-homoserine lactone and phenazine production in P. chlororaphis strains.     

Streptomyces associated with a marine sponge Haliclona sp.; biosynthetic genes for secondary metabolites and products

Terrestrial actinobacteria have served as a primary source of bioactive compounds; however, a rapid decrease in the discovery of new compounds strongly necessitates new investigational approaches. One approach is the screening of actinobacteria from marine habitats, especially the members of the genus Streptomyces. Presence of this genus in a marine sponge, Haliclona sp., was investigated using culture‐dependent and ‐independent techniques. 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis showed the presence of diverse Streptomyces in the sponge sample. In addition to the dominant genus Streptomyces, members of six different genera were isolated using four different media. Five phylogenetically new strains, each representing a novel species in the genus Streptomyces were also isolated. Polyphasic study suggesting the classification of two of these strains as novel species is presented. Searching the strains for the production of novel compounds and the presence of biosynthetic genes for secondary metabolites revealed seven novel compounds and biosynthetic genes with unique sequences. In these compounds, JBIR‐43 exhibited cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines. JBIR‐34 and ‐35 were particularly interesting because of their unique chemical skeleton. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study detailing the isolation of actinobacteria from a marine sponge and novel secondary metabolites from these strains.     

Secondary metabolism in cannabis

Cannabis sativa L. is an annual dioecious plant from Central Asia. Cannabinoids, flavonoids, stilbenoids, terpenoids, alkaloids and lignans are some of the secondary metabolites present in C. sativa. Earlier reviews were focused on isolation and identification of more than 480 chemical compounds; this review deals with the biosynthesis of the secondary metabolites present in this plant. Cannabinoid biosynthesis and some closely related pathways that involve the same precursors are disscused.     

Lapachol biotransformation by filamentous fungi yields bioactive quinone derivatives and lapachol-stimulated secondary metabolites

Abstract

Lapachol is a natural naphthoquinone with a range of biological effects, including anticancer activity. Microbial transformations of lapachol can lead to the formation of new biologically active compounds. In addition, fungi can produce secondary metabolites that are also important for drug discovery. The goal of this study was to evaluate the ability of filamentous fungi to biotransform lapachol into biologically active compounds and identify secondary metabolites produced in the presence of lapachol. Seven out of nine strains of filamentous fungi tested exhibited the ability to biotransform or biodegrade lapachol. The bioactive derivatives norlapachol and isolapachol were identified among biotransformation products. Moreover, lapachol stimulated the production of pyrrolo-[1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl) and phenol-2,4-bis-(1,1-dimethylethyl), secondary metabolites already known to have antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. These results open the perspective of using these strains of filamentous fungi for lapachol biotransformation and efficient production of several biologically active compounds.     

链霉菌形态分化与次级代谢产物合成的研究进展

链霉菌是一类具有复杂的形态分化周期和强大的次级代谢能力的高GC含量的放线菌,能够利用其初级代谢产生的前体化合物和能量,合成多种结构复杂、功能多样的具有生物活性的次级代谢产物,在农业、食品、畜牧业、工业以及医药研究等领域都具有重要的价值。在链霉菌的形态分化后期常常伴随着次级代谢产物的生物合成,并且两者都受到复杂的网络调控;同时链霉菌的形态对次级代谢产物的产量和种类造成很大影响。对链霉菌生长周期的全面理解将加深对链霉菌形态分化与次级代谢产物合成关系的认识。本文将对链霉菌的形态分化过程、形态分化和抗生素合成两者共同的调控因子以及链霉菌形态与抗生素产量之间的关系进行综述,这将有助于理解抗生素的合成过程,也将会在缩短发酵周期、构建高产工程菌株、新型杀菌剂的研发以及新型抗生素的合成等方面给予我们启发。     

Secondary Metabolites from Marine Micromonospora: Chemistry and Bioactivities

Marine Micromonospora was revealed to be a rather untapped and a rich source of chemically diverse and unique bioactive natural products. This review is aimed to make a comprehensive survey of secondary metabolites that were derived from marine Micromonospora including chemical diversity and biological activities. A total of 116 compounds from 41 marine Micromonospora species have been reported, covering the literatures from 1997 to 2019. These compounds contain several structural classes such as polyketides (PKS), nonribosomal peptides (NRPS), PKS‐NRPS hybrids, terpenes and others, and they present cytotoxic, antibacterial, antiparasitic, chemopreventive or antioxidant activities.     

The genetic basis for indole-diterpene chemical diversity in filamentous fungi

Indole-diterpenes are a structurally diverse group of secondary metabolites with a common cyclic diterpene backbone derived from geranylgeranyl diphosphate and an indole group derived from indole-3-glycerol phosphate. Different types and patterns of ring substitutions and ring stereochemistry generate this structural diversity. This group of compounds is best known for their neurotoxic effects in mammals, causing syndromes such as ‘ryegrass staggers’ in sheep and cattle. Because many of the fungi that synthesise these compounds form symbiotic relationships with plants, insects, and other fungi, the synthesis of these compounds may confer an ecological advantage to these associations. Considerable recent progress has been made on understanding indole-diterpene biosynthesis in filamentous fungi, principally through the cloning and characterisation of the genes and gene products for paxilline biosynthesis in Penicillium paxilli. Important insights into how the indole-diterpene backbone is synthesised and decorated have been obtained using P. paxilli mutants in this pathway. This review provides an overview of these recent developments.     

A guide to successful bioprospecting: informed by actinobacterial systematics

New structurally diverse natural products are discovered when novel screening procedures are introduced or when high quality biological materials from new sources are examined in existing screens, hence it is important to foster these two aspects of novelty in drug discovery programmes. Amongst prokaryotes, actinomycetes, notably streptomycetes, remain a rich source of new natural products though it has become increasingly difficult to find such metabolites from common actinomycetes as screening ‘old friends’ leads to the costly rediscovery of known compounds. The bioprospecting strategy which is the subject of this review is based upon the premise that new secondary metabolites can be found by screening relatively small numbers of dereplicated, novel actinomycetes isolated from marine sediments. The success of the strategy is exemplified by the discovery of a range of novel bioactive compounds, notably atrop-abyssomicin C and proximicins A, B and C from Verrucosispora strains isolated from sediment samples taken from the Sea of Japan and the Raune Fjord, respectively, and the dermacozines derived from Dermacoccus strains isolated from the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. The importance of current advances in prokaryotic systematics in work of this nature is stressed and a plea made that resources be sought to train, support and employ the next generation of actinobacterial systematists.     

红树木榄生境中可培养细菌物种多样性及其体外抗乙肝病毒活性研究

红树生境中微生物菌群丰富，其次生代谢产物结构新颖，是挖掘新型药物的重要来源。该研究利用纯培养技术和16S rRNA分子生物学技术确定细菌种属，并进行物种多样性分析；以HepG2.2.15细胞株为模型，通过MTT和PCR技术测试细菌代谢产物的抗乙肝病毒活性；使用LC-HRMS技术对活性菌株代谢产物进行初步分析，初步评价木榄沉积物、根、叶以及胚轴的可培养细菌多样性以及细菌代谢物生物活性，寻找抗乙肝病毒的药源菌株。结果表明：(1)共获得细菌59种，分属于4门5纲14目23科36属，其中芽孢杆菌为优势菌属；菌株GXIMD07402、GXIMD07665、GXIMD07384分别为Pseudooceanicola属、Thioclava属和Aestuariibaculum属的潜在新种。(2)抗乙肝病毒活性结果显示GXIMD07366、GXIMD07616、GXIMD07384、GXIMD07550、GXIMD07445X提取物能显著降低HepG2.2.15细胞上清液中HBV DNA水平(P<0.05),抑制率分别为51%、47%、63%、52%、47%。(3)初步鉴定强活性菌株GXIMD07...     

Metabolomic Tools to Assess the Chemistry and Bioactivity of Endophytic Aspergillus Strain

Endophytic fungi associated with medicinal plants are a potential source of novel chemistry and biology that may find applications as pharmaceutical and agrochemical drugs. In this study, a combination of metabolomics and bioactivity‐guided approaches were employed to isolate secondary metabolites with cytotoxicity against cancer cells from an endophytic Aspergillus aculeatus. The endophyte was isolated from the Egyptian medicinal plant Terminalia laxiflora and identified using molecular biological methods. Metabolomics and dereplication studies were accomplished by utilizing the MZmine software coupled with the universal Dictionary of Natural Products database. Metabolic profiling, with aid of multivariate data analysis, was performed at different stages of the growth curve to choose the optimized method suitable for up‐scaling. The optimized culture method yielded a crude extract abundant with biologically‐active secondary metabolites. Crude extracts were fractionated using different high‐throughput chromatographic techniques. Purified compounds were identified by HR‐ESI‐MS, 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR. This study introduced a new method of dereplication utilizing both high‐resolution mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The metabolites were putatively identified by applying a chemotaxonomic filter. We also present a short review on the diverse chemistry of terrestrial endophytic strains of Aspergillus, which has become a part of our dereplication work and this will be of wide interest to those working in this field.     

POLYPHASIC CHARACTERIZATION OF DOLICHOSPERMUM SPP. AND SPHAEROSPERMOPSIS SPP. (NOSTOCALES,CYANOBACTERIA): MORPHOLOGY, 16S rRNA GENE SEQUENCES AND FATTY ACID AND SECONDARY METABOLITE PROFILES1

The genera Dolichospermum (Ralfs ex Bornet et Flahault) Wacklin, L. Hoffm. et Komárek and Sphaerospermopsis Zapomělová, Jezberová, Hrouzek, Hisem, K. ?eháková et Komárk.‐Legn. represent a highly diversified group of planktonic cyanobacteria that have been recently separated from the traditional genus Anabaena Bory ex Bornet et Flahault. In this study, morphological diversity, phylogeny of the 16S rRNA gene, production of fatty acids, and secondary metabolite profiles were evaluated in 33 strains of 14 morphospecies isolated from the Czech Republic. Clustering of the strains based on 16S rRNA gene sequences corresponded to wider groups of species in terms of morphology. The overall secondary metabolite and fatty acid profiles, however, were not correlated to each other and neither were they correlated to the 16S rRNA phylogeny nor the morphology of the strains. Nevertheless, a minor part of the detected secondary metabolites (19% of all compounds) was present only in close relatives and can be thus considered as autapomorphic features.     

Chemical Constituents and Biological Activities of Piper as Anticancer Agents: A Review

Cancer has become the primary cause of death worldwide, and anticancer drugs are used to combat this disease. Synthesis of anticancer drugs has limited success due to adverse side effects has made compounds from natural products with minimal toxicity gain much popularity. Piper species are known to have a biological effect on human health. The biological activity is due to Piper species rich with active secondary metabolites that can combat most diseases, including cancer. This review will discuss the phytochemistry of Piper species and their anticancer activity. The identification and characterization of ten active metabolites isolated from Piper species were discussed in detail and their anticancer mechanism. These metabolites were mainly found could inhibit anticancer through caspase and P38/JNK pathways. The findings discussed in this review support the therapeutic potential of Piper species against cancer due to their rich source of active metabolites with demonstrated anticancer activity.     

Secondary metabolite profiling of the model legume <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lotus japonicus</Emphasis> during its symbiotic interaction with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mesorhizobium loti</Emphasis>

Plant secondary metabolites, particularly flavonoids, are key components in the early stages of nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. Despite their importance, the endogenous secondary metabolites involved in symbiosis have not yet been identified in the model legume Lotus japonicus. We therefore determined changes in the secondary metabolic profile of Lotus japonicus roots in response to its symbiont. Analysis of the root secondary metabolite profiles 1 week after inoculation with Mesorhizobium loti revealed quantitative changes in the level of 14 phenolic peaks when compared with non-inoculated control plants. These changes affected compounds from most phenolic classes, possibly resulting from interconversion between classes since the total phenolic level remained constant. In addition, the use of 2 M. loti strains differing only in their capacity to synthesise Nod factor revealed that, although Nod factor signalling induced accumulation of a specific subset of 4 phenolic peaks, most changes were induced in response to both rhizobial strains.     

Pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites of marine actinobacteria

Marine actinobacteria are one of the most efficient groups of secondary metabolite producers and are very important from an industrial point of view. Many representatives of the order Actinomycetales are prolific producers of thousands of biologically active secondary metabolites. Actinobacteria from terrestrial sources have been studied and screened since the 1950s, for many important antibiotics, anticancer, antitumor and immunosuppressive agents. However, frequent rediscovery of the same compounds from the terrestrial actinobacteria has made them less attractive for screening programs in the recent years. At the same time, actinobacteria isolated from the marine environment have currently received considerable attention due to the structural diversity and unique biological activities of their secondary metabolites. They are efficient producers of new secondary metabolites that show a range of biological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antitumor, cytotoxic, cytostatic, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, anti-malaria, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-angiogenesis, etc. In this review, an evaluation is made on the current status of research on marine actinobacteria yielding pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites. Bioactive compounds from marine actinobacteria possess distinct chemical structures that may form the basis for synthesis of new drugs that could be used to combat resistant pathogens. With the increasing advancement in science and technology, there would be a greater demand for new bioactive compounds synthesized by actinobacteria from various marine sources in future.     

Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea: the role of hybrid PKS-NRPS in pathogenicity

Fungal secondary metabolites are an important source of bioactive compounds for agrochemistry and pharmacology. Over the past decade, many studies have been undertaken to characterize the biosynthetic pathways of fungal secondary metabolites. This effort has led to the discovery of new compounds, gene clusters, and key enzymes, and has been greatly supported by the recent releases of fungal genome sequences. In this review, we present results from a search for genes involved in secondary metabolism and their clusters in the genome of the rice pathogen, Magnaporthe grisea, as well as in other fungal genomes. We have also performed a phylogenetic analysis of recently discovered genes encoding hybrids between a polyketide synthase and a single non-ribosomal peptide synthetase module (PKS–NRPS), as M. grisea seems rich in these enzymes compared with other fungi. Using results from expression and functional studies, we discuss the role of these PKS-NRPS in the avirulence and pathogenicity of M. grisea.     

Bacterial Diversity and Phylogenetic Analysis of Type II Polyketide Synthase Gene from Manao-Pee Cave,Thailand

A subterranean limestone cave, Manao-Pee, was investigated for bacterial diversity and potential secondary metabolites production. Comparative 16 S rRNA analysis revealed that cave soil was highly dominated by Actinobacteria; whereas, Proteobacteria was highly abundant outside the cave. As Actinobacteria are biotechnologically valuable for their secondary metabolites, the diversity of the β-ketoacyl synthase (KS_β) was investigated. The results showed that the identified KS_β has 61–80% amino acid sequence identity to known sequences. Phylogenetic analysis placed some of the sequences in novel clades, suggesting the presence of novel KS_β domains. Thus, Manao-Pee cave is a promising habitat to discover potential novel bioactive compounds.