色氨酸, 天然产物生物合成中的重要结构单元

氨基酸作为生物体内组成生命物质的小分子化合物, 在天然产物生物合成中扮演了非常重要的作用。色氨酸含有一个独特的吲哚环, 相对复杂的吲哚环平面结构使得色氨酸相比其他氨基酸具有更多的修饰空间。在微生物天然产物生物合成研究中, 色氨酸及其衍生物经常作为组成模块参与到天然产物的生物合成中, 本文概述了色氨酸几种不同的生物修饰方式, 包括烷基化修饰、卤化修饰、羟基化修饰、以及吲哚环的开环重排反应等。分析并总结色氨酸在天然产物生物合成中的作用可以增加我们对天然产物结构多样性的认识和推动天然产物生物合成机制的研究。     

Podoverine A—a novel microtubule destabilizing natural product from the Podophyllum species

Natural products represent compound classes with high chemical and structural diversity and various biological activities. Libraries based on natural products are valuable starting point in the search for novel biologically active substances. Here we report on the identification of the natural product podoverine A from the plant Podophyllum versipelle Hance as a novel tubulin-acting agent. A natural product compound collection was subjected to a high-content screen that monitors changes in cytoskeleton and DNA and podoverine A was identified as inhibitor of mitosis. This natural product causes mitotic arrest and inhibits microtubule polymerization in vitro and in cells by targeting the vinca binding site on tubulin.     

Features and applications of bacterial glycosyltransferases: current state and prospects

The bioactivity of many natural products including valuable antibiotics and anticancer therapeutics depends on their sugar moieties. Changes in the structures of these sugars can deeply influence the biological activity, specificity and pharmacological properties of the parent compounds. The chemical synthesis of such sugar ligands is exceedingly difficult to carry out and therefore impractical to establish on a large scale. Therefore, glycosyltransferases are essential tools for chemoenzymatic and in vivo approaches for the development of complex glycosylated natural products. In the last 10 years, several examples of successful alteration and diversification of natural product glycosylation patterns via metabolic pathway engineering and enzymatic glycodiversification have been described. Due to the relaxed substrate specificity of many sugar biosynthetic enzymes and glycosyltransferases involved in natural product biosynthesis, it is possible to obtain novel glycosylated compounds using different methods. In this review, we would like to provide an overview of recent advances in diversification of the glycosylated natural products and glycosyltransferase engineering.     

Marine actinomycete diversity and natural product discovery

Microbial natural products remain an important resource for drug discovery yet the microorganisms inhabiting the worlds oceans have largely been overlooked in this regard. The recent discovery of novel secondary metabolites from taxonomically unique populations of marine actinomycetes suggests that these bacteria add an important new dimension to microbial natural product research. Continued efforts to characterize marine actinomycete diversity and how adaptations to the marine environment affect secondary metabolite production will create a better understanding of the potential utility of these bacteria as a source of useful products for biotechnology.     

Bioactive Natural Products from Papua New Guinea Marine Sponges

The discovery of novel natural products for drug development relies heavily upon a rich biodiversity, of which the marine environment is an obvious example. Marine natural product research has spawned several drugs and many other candidates, some of which are the focus of current clinical trials. The sponge megadiversity of Papua New Guinea is a rich but underexplored source of bioactive natural products. Here, we review some of the many natural products derived from PNG sponges with an emphasis on those with interesting biological activity and, therefore, drug potential. Many bioactive natural products discussed here appear to be derived from non‐ribosomal peptide and polyketide biosynthesis pathways, strongly suggesting a microbial origin of these compounds. With this in mind, we also explore the notion of sponge‐symbiont biosynthesis of these bioactive compounds and present examples to support the working hypothesis.     

Discovery and preliminary structure–activity relationship studies on tecomaquinone I and tectol as novel farnesyltransferase and plasmodial inhibitors

Biological screening of a library of synthesized benzo[c]chromene-7,10-dione natural products against human farnesyltransferase (FTase) has identified tecomaquinone I (IC₅₀ of 0.065 ± 0.004 μM) as being one of the more potent natural product inhibitors identified to date. Anti-plasmodial screening of the same library against a drug-resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum identified the structurally-related dichromenol tectol as a moderately active growth inhibitor with an IC₅₀ 3.44 ± 0.20 μM. Two novel series of analogues, based on the benzo[c]chromene-7,10-dione scaffold, were subsequently synthesized, with one analogue exhibiting farnesyltransferase inhibitory activity in the low micromolar range. A preliminary structure–activity relationship (SAR) study has identified different structural requirements for anti-malarial activity in comparison to FTase activities for these classes of natural products. Our results identify tecomaquinone I as a novel scaffold from which more potent inhibitors of human and parasitic FTase could be developed.     

Discovery of New Compounds Active against Plasmodium falciparum by High Throughput Screening of Microbial Natural Products

Due to the low structural diversity within the set of antimalarial drugs currently available in the clinic and the increasing number of cases of resistance, there is an urgent need to find new compounds with novel modes of action to treat the disease. Microbial natural products are characterized by their large diversity provided in terms of the chemical complexity of the compounds and the novelty of structures. Microbial natural products extracts have been underexplored in the search for new antiparasitic drugs and even more so in the discovery of new antimalarials. Our objective was to find new druggable natural products with antimalarial properties from the MEDINA natural products collection, one of the largest natural product libraries harboring more than 130,000 microbial extracts. In this work, we describe the optimization process and the results of a phenotypic high throughput screen (HTS) based on measurements of Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase. A subset of more than 20,000 extracts from the MEDINA microbial products collection has been explored, leading to the discovery of 3 new compounds with antimalarial activity. In addition, we report on the novel antiplasmodial activity of 4 previously described natural products.     

A strategy for cloning glycosyltransferase genes involved in natural product biosynthesis

The soil-borne and marine gram-positive Actinomycetes are a particularly rich source of carbohydrate-containing metabolites. With the advent of molecular tools and recombinant methods applicable to Actinomycetes, it has become feasible to investigate the biosynthesis of glycosylated compounds at genetic and biochemical levels, which has finally set the basis for engineering novel natural product derivatives. Glycosyltransferases (GT) are key enzymes for the biosynthesis of many valuable natural products that contain sugar moieties and they are most important for drug engineering. So far, the direct cloning of unknown glycosyltransferase genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has not been described because glycosyltransferases do not share strongly conserved amino acid regions. In this study, we report a method for cloning of novel so far unidentified glycosyltransferase genes from different Actinomycetes strain. This was achieved by designing primers after a strategy named consensus-degenerate hybrid oligonucleotide primer (CODEHOP). Using this approach, 22 novel glycosyltransferase encoding genes putatively involved in the decoration of polyketides were cloned from the genomes of 10 Actinomycetes. In addition, a phylogenetic analysis of glycosyltransferases from Actinomycetes is shown in this paper.     

真菌来源的药用天然产物

天然产物及其衍生物,包括基于天然产物药效基团结构设计的化合物,约占临床药物的50%以上。几个世纪以来,真菌天然产物的药用价值闻名于世。无论从市场前景还是人道主义角度,真菌来源的小分子药物都具有极高的应用价值。本篇综述总结了真菌天然产物在临床上的应用,并以他汀类药物的研发历程揭示了真菌来源小分子是化学合成药物研发的重要灵感源泉。本篇综述涵盖了真菌来源的药物小分子,包括天然药物、相关衍生物以及结构修饰药物。     

Introducing N-glycans into natural products through a chemoenzymatic approach

The present study describes an efficient chemoenzymatic method for introducing a core N-glycan of glycoprotein origin into various lipophilic natural products. It was found that the endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Arthrobactor protophormiae (Endo-A) had broad substrate specificity and can accommodate a wide range of glucose (Glc)- or N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)-containing natural products as acceptors for transglycosylation, when an N-glycan oxazoline was used as a donor substrate. Using lithocholic acid as a model compound, we have shown that introduction of an N-glycan could be achieved by a two-step approach: chemical glycosylation to introduce a monosaccharide (Glc or GlcNAc) as a handle, and then Endo-A catalyzed transglycosylation to accomplish the site-specific N-glycan attachment. For those natural products that already carry terminal Glc or GlcNAc residues, direct enzymatic transglycosylation using sugar oxazoline as the donor substrate was achievable to introduce an N-glycan. It was also demonstrated that simultaneous double glycosylation could be fulfilled when the natural product contains two Glc residues. This chemoenzymatic method is concise, site-specific, and highly convergent. Because N-glycans of glycoprotein origin can serve as ligands for diverse lectins and cell-surface receptors, introduction of a defined N-glycan into biologically significant natural products may bestow novel properties onto these natural products for drug discovery and development.     

后基因组时代的真菌天然产物发现

真菌产生的次级代谢产物是新药发现的重要来源之一,然而近年来传统的真菌天然产物发现方法在大量真菌基因组测序完成的时代遇到了很大的挑战。如何利用这些基因组数据来发现真菌中新的天然产物已成为后基因组时代天然产物发现的研究重点和热点。本综述先后介绍了真菌天然产物的类型及其相应基因簇和骨架酶的特征,基于基因组挖掘技术发展而来的天然产物发现新策略,以及利用合成生物学理念和技术在真菌天然产物发现中的应用现状,最后展望了后基因组时代中的天然产物发现研究前沿及基因组数据在后基因组时代对真菌天然产物发现的应用前景。     

Applied techniques for mining natural proteasome inhibitors

In eukaryotic cells, the ubiquitin–proteasome-system (UPS) is responsible for the non-lysosomal degradation of proteins and plays a pivotal role in such vital processes as protein homeostasis, antigen processing or cell proliferation. Therefore, it is an attractive drug target with various applications in cancer and immunosuppressive therapies. Being an evolutionary well conserved pathway, many pathogenic bacteria have developed small molecules, which modulate the activity of their hosts' UPS components. Such natural products are, due to their stepwise optimization over the millennia, highly potent in terms of their binding mechanisms, their bioavailability and selectivity. Generally, this makes bioactive natural products an ideal starting point for the development of novel drugs. Since four out of the ten best seller drugs are natural product derivatives, research in this field is still of unfathomable value for the pharmaceutical industry. The currently most prominent example for the successful exploitation of a natural compound in the UPS field is carfilzomib (Kyprolis®), which represents the second FDA approved drug targeting the proteasome after the admission of the blockbuster bortezomib (Velcade®) in 2003. On the other hand side of the spectrum, ONX 0914, which is derived from the same natural product as carfilzomib, has been shown to selectively inhibit the immune response related branch of the pathway. To date, there exists a huge potential of UPS inhibitors with regard to many diseases. Both approved drugs against the proteasome show severe side effects, adaptive resistances and limited applicability, thus the development of novel compounds with enhanced properties is a main objective of active research. In this review, we describe the techniques, which can be utilized for the discovery of novel natural inhibitors, which in particular block the 20S proteasomal activity. In addition, we will illustrate the successful implementation of a recently published methodology with the example of a highly potent but so far unexploited group of proteasome inhibitors, the syrbactins, and their biological functions. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Ubiquitin–Proteasome System. Guest Editors: Thomas Sommer and Dieter H. Wolf.     

海鞘类天然产物的最新研究进展

近年来,从海洋生物海鞘中分离出很多结构新颖而又有显著生理活性的天然化合物,引起了有机化学家和药学家的关注。本文综述了国内外最近几年对海鞘类天然产物的研究进展,并按化学结构类型进行了分类。     

Potential natural candidates in the treatment of coronavirus infections

Many viral infections do not have treatments or resistant to existing antiviral therapeutic interventions, and a novel strategy is required to combat virus-mediated fatalities. A novel coronavirus (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the globe. COVID-19 has impacted human society with life-threatening and unprecedented health, social, and economic issues, and it continues to affect millions of people. More than 5,800 clinical trials are in place worldwide to develop treatments to eradicate COVID-19. Historically, traditional medicine or natural products, such as medicinal plants, marine organisms and microbes, have been efficacious in treating viral infections. Nevertheless, important parameters for natural products, including clinical trial information, pharmacokinetic data, potency and toxicity profiles, in vivo and in vitro data, and product safety require validation. In this review article, an evaluation is performed of the potential application of natural product-based antiviral compounds, including crude extracts and bioactive chemical compounds obtained from medicinal plants, marine organisms, and microbes, to treat the viral infections COVID-19.     

Drug discovery from natural products

Natural product compounds are the source of numerous therapeutic agents. Recent progress to discover drugs from natural product sources has resulted in compounds that are being developed to treat cancer, resistant bacteria and viruses and immunosuppressive disorders. Many of these compounds were discovered by applying recent advances in understanding the genetics of secondary metabolism in actinomycetes, exploring the marine environment and applying new screening technologies. In many instances, the discovery of a novel natural product serves as a tool to better understand targets and pathways in the disease process. This review describes recent progress in drug discovery from natural sources including several examples of compounds that inhibit novel drug targets.     

放线菌天然产物糖基化改造研究进展

放线菌可以产生结构多样的天然产物, 其中包括很多重要的抗菌和抗肿瘤药物。糖基化修饰在天然产物中广泛存在, 糖基侧链的变化往往会影响天然产物的生物活性。本文综述了放线菌来源天然产物糖基化改造的研究进展。糖基侧链改造的方法主要分为体内基因工程和体外酶学法。运用这两种方法已经成功对多种天然产物进行了糖基侧链改造, 获得了大量带有新糖基修饰的天然产物, 其中有些生物活性得以提高。天然产物糖基侧链改造为新药开发提供了一个重要的途径。     

基因组挖掘技术在海洋放线菌天然产物研究开发中的应用及展望

利用微生物的基因组信息预测其合成特定天然产物的潜能, 进而进行新化合物分离纯化和结构鉴定的基因组挖掘技术, 已经成为国内外研究的热点, 并在多种细菌和真菌的天然产物发现中得到成功应用。本文综述了基因组挖掘技术的最新进展, 包括生物信息分析和结构预测、基因组指导的天然产物的发现、沉默基因的激活和异源表达技术等, 以及我国学者开发的转录组挖掘技术, 并重点综述了影像质谱技术在基因组挖掘中的应用。目前对海洋放线菌进行基因组挖掘的研究还比较少, 而基因组挖掘技术的发展, 将极大地促进对海洋放线菌天然产物的发现和鉴定。未来除了充分挖掘可培养微生物的基因组, 对未培养微生物宏基因组的挖掘将进一步深入。此外, 除了开发利用基因组中合成天然产物的结构基因和调节基因, 还应该充分开发利用其他不同的遗传元件, 包括不同转录活性和响应不同环境条件和信号的启动子, 以及具有调节作用的RNA等。     

New natural products as new leads for antibacterial drug discovery

Natural products have been a rich source of antibacterial drugs for many decades, but investments in this area have declined over the past two decades. The purpose of this review article is to provide a recent survey of new natural product classes and the mechanisms by which they work.     

Strategies for dereplication of natural compounds using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry

Complete structural elucidation of natural products is commonly performed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), but annotating compounds to most likely structures using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry is a faster and feasible first step. The CASMI contest 2016 (Critical Assessment of Small Molecule Identification) provided spectra of eighteen compounds for the best manual structure identification in the natural products category. High resolution precursor and tandem mass spectra (MS/MS) were available to characterize the compounds. We used the Seven Golden Rules, Sirius2 and MS-FINDER software for determination of molecular formulas, and then we queried the formulas in different natural product databases including DNP, UNPD, ChemSpider and REAXYS to obtain molecular structures. We used different in-silico fragmentation tools including CFM-ID, CSI:FingerID and MS-FINDER to rank these compounds. Additional neutral losses and product ion peaks were manually investigated. This manual and time consuming approach allowed for the correct dereplication of thirteen of the eighteen natural products.     

槐米中天然产物槲皮素抗人鼻咽癌CNE1细胞活性研究

本研究以槐米为原材料提纯天然产物槲皮素,以人鼻咽癌细胞系CNE1为试验对象,探索天然产物槲皮素对人鼻咽癌细胞的增殖抑制效应及凋亡诱导效应。研究方法采用超声醇提法从槐米中提取芸香苷,再经酸水解和重结晶制备槲皮素精制品;采用槲皮素标准曲线比色法检测槲皮素精制品中槲皮素的纯度;采用MTT比色法进行细胞毒性试验,检测槲皮素精制品对人鼻咽癌细胞CNE1增殖的抑制效应及半数抑制浓度(IC50);采用流式细胞术结合AnnexinV、PI双染色法进行细胞凋亡试验,检测槲皮素精制品对CNE1细胞凋亡的诱导效应。结果表明,从槐米中提纯的天然产物槲皮素精制品,能呈剂量依赖性地抑制人鼻咽癌细胞CNE1增殖并诱导其凋亡。综上所述,应用超声醇提法,从槐米中制备的天然产物槲皮素精制品,不仅纯度高,且有着较优的抗癌活性,进一步明确了槐米等中药材开发天然产物有效成分,服务于人类健康的潜在应用价值和社会与经济效益。