Natural and semisynthetic oxyprenylated aromatic compounds as stimulators or inhibitors of melanogenesis

It has been very recently shown how naturally occurring oxyprenylated coumarins are effective modulators of melanogenesis. In this short communication we wish to generalize the potentialities as skin tanning or whitening agents of a wider panel of natural and semisynthetic aromatic compounds, including coumarins, cinnamic and benzoic acids, cinnamaldehydes, benzaldehyde, and anthraquinone derivatives. A total number of 43 compounds have been tested assaying their capacity to inhibit or stimulate melanin biosynthesis in cultured murine Melan A cells. The wider number of chemicals herein under investigation allowed to depict a detailed structure-activity relationship, as the following: (a) benzoic acid derivatives are slightly pigmenting agent, for which the effect is more pronounced in compounds with longer O-side chains; (b) independently from the type of substitution, cinnamic acids are able to increase melanin biosynthesis, while benzaldehydes are able to decrease it; (c) coumarins with a 3,3-dimethylallyl or shorter skeletons as substituents in position 7 are tanning agents, while coumarins with farnesyloxy groups are whitening ones; (d) double oxyprenylation in position 6 and 7 and 3,3-dimethylallyl or geranyl skeletons have slight depigmenting capacities, while farnesyl skeletons tend to marginally increase the tanning effect; (e) the presence of electron withdrawing groups (acetyl, COOH, and -Cl) and geranyl or farnesyl oxyprenylated chains respectively in positions 3 and 7 of the coumarin nucleus lead to a whitening effect, and finally (f) oxyprenylated anthraquinones have only a weak depigmenting capacity.     

戊二酰亚胺类天然产物生物合成研究进展

微生物天然产物是天然药物的重要组成部分,而天然产物的良好生物活性很大程度上取决于发挥药效的结构基团。这些特殊药效基团的生物合成,通常是利用小分子羧酸、氨基酸等结构简单的初级代谢产物,经过复杂的生物化学过程,最终合成结构复杂活性多样的天然产物。戊二酰亚胺类天然产物是一类重要的细菌来源天然产物,它们具有良好的生物活性,是潜在的先导化合物,部分化合物已被开发成分子探针。本文综述了近年来微生物来源的戊二酰亚胺类天然产物及其生物合成研究,包括Iso-Migrastatin、Lactimidomyin、Cycloheximide、Streptimidone、Gladiostatin、Sesbanimide等,对戊二酰亚胺类天然产物的生物合成研究,将有效促进通过基因组挖掘策略寻找新型戊二酰亚胺类天然产物。     

Chemistry and biological activity of azoprenylated secondary metabolites

N-Prenyl secondary metabolites (isopentenylazo-, geranylazo-, farnesylazo- and their biosynthetic derivatives) represent a family of extremely rare natural products. Only in recent years have these alkaloids been recognized as interesting and valuable biologically active secondary metabolites. To date about 35 alkaloids have been isolated from plants mainly belonging to the Rutaceae family, and from fungi, bacteria, and/or obtained by chemical synthesis. These metabolites comprise anthranilic acid derivatives, diazepinones, and indole, and xanthine alkaloids. Many of the isolated prenylazo secondary metabolites and their semisynthetic derivatives are shown to exert valuable in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal effects. The aim of this comprehensive review is to examine the different types of prenylazo natural products from a chemical, phytochemical and biological perspective.     

微生物来源天然产物中的β-甲基色氨酸单元及其生物合成研究进展

微生物在次级代谢过程中通常会产生结构复杂、活性多样的天然产物。这些天然产物是新药发展的基础,亦可作为先导化合物或重要的药效基团用于药物研发。结构多样的氨基酸单元是参与合成复杂多样天然产物的重要前体。天然产物中的β-甲基氨基酸单元不仅可以赋予其生物活性,还能增强其生物稳定性而不被肽酶水解。本文综述了含有β-甲基氨基酸单元的天然产物,尤其对含有β-甲基色氨酸单元的天然产物生物合成途径进行了阐释。对β-甲基色氨酸单元生物合成途径的理解结合基因组数据有助于进行新结构天然产物的挖掘,并为运用代谢科学理念和合成生物学技术开发含有该单元的新化合物提供理论基础和可操作遗传元件。     

植物环肽及其可能的生物合成途径

植物环肽是一个庞大的小分子天然产物家族,通常由4—10个氨基酸残基组合而成。该类化合物广泛存在于全球多种植物的根、茎、枝、叶及种子中,中草药中也时有发现。由于对其生物合成途径及机理研究较少,环肽分子的利用价值尚未得到有效的开发。和常见的非环状基因编码的多肽或蛋白质相比,环肽结构更为复杂。本文将对植物环肽的生物合成途径及其机理做初步探讨。     

New advances in the chemistry of methoxylated lipids

Methoxylated lipids have been reviewed emphasizing the alkylglycerol ethers and fatty acids bearing the methoxy group in the alkyl chain. The literature on methoxylated lipids and their derivatives has been divided into four main groups, namely 2-methoxylated alkyl glycerols, ω-methoxylated fatty acids, mid-chain methoxylated fatty acids, and -methoxylated fatty acids. The natural occurrence, biological activity, and synthesis of this interesting group of lipids are discussed. Most of these compounds have been isolated from either bacterial or marine sources, but others are mainly of synthetic origin. Among the interesting biological activities displayed by these compounds the most important are antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, and antiviral.     

海洋链霉菌Streptomyces sp. B9173合成的2-吲哚酮生物碱

【背景】海洋来源的天然产物近年来已成为小分子药物的重要来源。对海洋链霉菌Streptomyces sp. B9173的基因组分析显示,该菌包含多种天然产物的生物合成基因簇,具有产生多种新化合物的潜力。【目的】挖掘B9173菌株中未知的次级代谢产物,以期发现结构新颖或生物活性独特的化合物。【方法】利用HPLC/LC-MS结合的方法,排除了该菌株产生的已知化合物,确定3个未知化合物作为挖掘对象,然后利用正、反相硅胶柱色谱、葡聚糖凝胶柱色谱和高效液相色谱等技术对次级代谢产物进行分离纯化,最后得到化合物单体。利用质谱及核磁共振光谱技术对化合物结构进行解析和鉴定。【结果】确定3个化合物分别是色胺酮、甲基异靛蓝和N,N-二甲基异靛蓝,三者都属于2-吲哚酮生物碱。其中色胺酮具有非常广的生物活性,包括抗菌、抗肿瘤、抗炎症等,是药物开发的良好前体,这是首次在细菌中被分离得到。甲基异靛蓝是我国临床治疗慢性粒细胞白血病的药物,这是首次在微生物发酵液中被分离得到。目前这3个化合物均主要依赖化学合成。本研究结合B9173菌株的代谢背景,推测了3个化合物的生物合成途径。【结论】基于紫外吸收光谱和质谱特征,从B9173菌株的发酵液中分离鉴定了3个2-吲哚酮生物碱,丰富了微生物活性天然产物的种类,对3个化合物生物合成途径的推测也为进一步研究色胺酮和甲基异靛蓝的生物合成机制奠定基础,后续可利用合成生物学技术重构这类化合物的生物合成途径,提供更便捷、低成本的生物合成方法。     

Construction of a microbial natural product library for chemical biology studies

The RIKEN Natural Products Depository (NPDepo) is a public depository of small molecules. Currently, the NPDepo chemical library contains 39,200 pure compounds, half of which are natural products and their derivatives. In order to reinforce the uniqueness of our chemical library, we have improved our strategies for the collection of microbial natural products. Firstly, a microbial metabolite fraction library coupled with an MP (microbial products) plot database provides a powerful resource for the efficient isolation of microbial metabolites. Secondly, biosynthetic studies of microbial metabolites have enabled us to not only access ingenious biosynthetic machineries, but also obtain a variety of biosynthetic intermediates. Our chemical library contributes to the discovery of molecular probes for increasing our understanding of complex biological processes and for eventually developing new drug leads.     

Nature: a vital source of leads for anticancer drug development

Over 60% of the current anticancer drugs have their origin in one way or another from natural sources. Nature continues to be the most prolific source of biologically active and diverse chemotypes, and it is becoming increasingly evident that associated microbes may often be the source of biologically active compounds originally isolated from host macro-organisms. While relatively few of the actual isolated compounds advance to become clinically effective drugs in their own right, these unique molecules may serve as models for the preparation of more efficacious analogs using chemical methodology such as total or combinatorial (parallel) synthesis, or manipulation of biosynthetic pathways. In addition, conjugation of toxic natural molecules to monoclonal antibodies or polymeric carriers specifically targeted to epitopes on tumors of interest can lead to the development of efficacious targeted therapies. The essential role played by natural products in the discovery and development of effective anticancer agents, and the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in the generation and optimization of novel molecular leads from natural product sources is reviewed.     

The crystal structure of AbsH3: A putative flavin adenine dinucleotide‐dependent reductase in the abyssomicin biosynthesis pathway

Natural products and natural product‐derived compounds have been widely used for pharmaceuticals for many years, and the search for new natural products that may have interesting activity is ongoing. Abyssomicins are natural product molecules that have antibiotic activity via inhibition of the folate synthesis pathway in microbiota. These compounds also appear to undergo a required [4 + 2] cycloaddition in their biosynthetic pathway. Here we report the structure of an flavin adenine dinucleotide‐dependent reductase, AbsH3, from the biosynthetic gene cluster of novel abyssomicins found in Streptomyces sp. LC‐6‐2.     

A biomimetic domino reaction for the concise synthesis of capreomycidine and epicapreomycidine

The non-proteinogenic amino acids capreomycidine and epicapreomycidine are constituents of antibiotically active natural products, but the synthesis of these unusual cyclic guanidine derivatives is challenging. The biosynthesis of capreomycidine has therefore been employed as a guideline to develop a concise biomimetic synthesis of both epimeric amino acids. The resulting domino-guanidinylation-aza-Michael-addition reaction provides the most convenient access to these amino acids in racemic form. Attempts to dissect the domino reaction into two separate transformations for a stereocontrolled version of this synthetic approach have also been made. The synthesized didehydro-arginine derivatives with urethane-protected guanidine moieties did not undergo the aza-Michael-addition anymore. These results may have wider implications for the 1,4-addition of guanidines to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, particularly to didehydro amino acids.     

放线菌萜类化合物生物合成研究进展

萜类化合物(Terpenoids)是自然界中化学结构最为丰富的一类化合物。近年来,从放线菌中分离到了一系列结构新颖的萜类化合物。通过直接克隆或基因组采掘(Genome mining)的方法,它们的生物合成基因簇被相继分离和鉴定,从而推动了放线菌中萜类化合物生物合成途径及关键酶的分子作用机理的研究。文章主要综述了近5年放线菌萜类化合物生物合成研究进展。     

Terpenoids from Marine Organisms: Unique Structures and their Pharmacological Potential

Marine organisms produce a wide array of fascinating terpenoid structures distinguished by characteristic structural features. Certain structural classes, e.g. cembrane, chamigrene, amphilectane skeletons, and unusual functional groups such as isonitrile, isothiocyanate, isocyanate, dichloroimine and halogenated functionalities occur predominantly in marine metabolites. Especially striking is the frequent occurrence of sesterterpenes in marine organisms, and sponges must be considered as one of the prime sources of these C₂₅ terpenoid compounds. In most cases however, these structural features are not strictly unique for marine natural products. The prominent biological activity of marine terpenes is evident in their ecological role in the marine environment, and makes them interesting as potential drugs. Several terpenoid compounds, e.g. eleutherobin, sarcodictyin, contignasterol derivatives, are in preclinical or clinical development. Despite the many structures known and their ecological and pharmacological importance, only a few biosynthetic studies on marine terpenoid compounds have been performed.     

Isolation and characterization of a sulfoxide and a desamido derivative of biosynthetic human growth hormone

Two derivatives of biosynthetic human growth hormone, a sulfoxide and a mixture of two monodesamido isomers, have been isolated and characterized. The sulfoxide derivative arises from an oxidation of Met-14. The major site of deamidation is at Asn-149 with a minor site at Asn-152. In addition, a fraction has been isolated from a sample of human growth hormone that was maintained at 40 degrees C for 2 weeks. This fraction, the isolated impurities fraction, contains the sulfoxide and the desamido forms, thereby demonstrating that these derivatives are the primary degradation products of biosynthetic human growth hormone. The sulfoxide, the desamido, and the isolated impurities fraction exhibit full biological activity.     

Antitumor Activity of Hierridin B,a Cyanobacterial Secondary Metabolite Found in both Filamentous and Unicellular Marine Strains

Cyanobacteria are widely recognized as a valuable source of bioactive metabolites. The majority of such compounds have been isolated from so-called complex cyanobacteria, such as filamentous or colonial forms, which usually display a larger number of biosynthetic gene clusters in their genomes, when compared to free-living unicellular forms. Nevertheless, picocyanobacteria are also known to have potential to produce bioactive natural products. Here, we report the isolation of hierridin B from the marine picocyanobacterium Cyanobium sp. LEGE 06113. This compound had previously been isolated from the filamentous epiphytic cyanobacterium Phormidium ectocarpi SAG 60.90, and had been shown to possess antiplasmodial activity. A phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene from both strains confirmed that these cyanobacteria derive from different evolutionary lineages. We further investigated the biological activity of hierridin B, and tested its cytotoxicity towards a panel of human cancer cell lines; it showed selective cytotoxicity towards HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma cells.     

Biosynthesis of 2-hydroxyethylphosphonate, an unexpected intermediate common to multiple phosphonate biosynthetic pathways

Phosphonic acids encompass a common yet chemically diverse class of natural products that often possess potent biological activities. Here we report that, despite the significant structural differences among many of these compounds, their biosynthetic routes contain an unexpected common intermediate, 2-hydroxyethyl-phosphonate, which is synthesized from phosphonoacetaldehyde by a distinct family of metal-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs). Although the sequence identity of the ADH family members is relatively low (34-37%), in vitro biochemical characterization of the homologs involved in biosynthesis of the antibiotics fosfomycin, phosphinothricin tripeptide, and dehydrophos (formerly A53868) unequivocally confirms their enzymatic activities. These unique ADHs have exquisite substrate specificity, unusual metal requirements, and an unprecedented monomeric quaternary structure. Further, sequence analysis shows that these ADHs form a monophyletic group along with additional family members encoded by putative phosphonate biosynthetic gene clusters. Thus, the reduction of phosphonoacetaldehyde to hydroxyethyl-phosphonate may represent a common step in the biosynthesis of many phosphonate natural products, a finding that lends insight into the evolution of phosphonate biosynthetic pathways and the chemical structures of new C-P containing secondary metabolites.     

香豆素类化合物功能及生物合成研究进展*

香豆素类化合物是自然界中一类重要的化合物,具有抗肿瘤、抗凝血、抗菌、杀虫等多种生物活性,应用领域广泛。目前大多数香豆素类化合物从植物中提取,受环境因素影响较大,得率低、成本高,不利于大规模生产,从而限制了其应用和推广。利用合成生物学的思路合成香豆素类化合物具有无污染、原料易得、成本低、过程可控等优势。对香豆素类化合物生物合成途径的研究,尤其是靶标天然产物生物合成表达元件、宿主和发酵条件的优化,以及合成途径中关键酶的挖掘,已经成为研究热点。综述香豆素类化合物及其衍生物的结构、功能和生物合成研究进展,为其生物合成路径中的基因挖掘及异源表达提供参考。     

Fukinolic acid and cimicifugic acids: a review

During the last decades, the research on the biological activities of extracts from Cimicifuga/Actaea species and Petasites japonicus as well as their active ingredients has been intensified. Besides terpenoids as dominant natural product group, hydroxycinnamic acid esters such as fukinolic acid and several cimicifugic acids have been isolated from Actaea and Petasites species and their chemical structures have been elucidated. Investigations on the biological properties of these hydroxycinnamic acid esters are currently undertaken and some compounds might be promising therapeutic tools. In this review, we have gathered information on the genera Actaea and Petasites, the occurrence of cimicifugic and fukinolic acids and some aspects of their biosynthesis. Furthermore, we have summarized the medicinal aspects of fukinolic acid and cimicifugic acids. In connection with the biological activities of these compounds, structural features of the hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives move into the focus. The position of the hydroxyl group at the aromatic rings and the introduction of an electron-donating moiety may be important for anti-inflammatory, antiviral, cytotoxic and vasoactive effects of these compounds.

     

A comprehensive and engaging overview of the type III family of polyketide synthases

Customizing biosynthesis of natural products to yield biologically active derivatives has captivated scientists in the field of biosynthetic research. To substantiate this goal, there are scores of obstacles to consider. To create novel metabolites by mutating amino acid residues in wild-type enzymes, a researcher must broaden the range of the enzymes substrate tolerance and increase its turnover rate during reaction catalysis. In the past decade, numerous gene clusters responsible for the biosynthesis of notable natural products have been identified from a variety of organisms. Several genes coding for type III polyketide synthases, particularly the chalcone synthase superfamily enzymes, were recently uncovered and expressed in E. coli. Furthermore, it was observed and reported how these recombinant enzymes are capable of producing essential metabolites in vitro. Three of the type III polyketide synthases, chalcone synthase, octaketide synthase and pentaketide chromone synthase, have been characterized and their active sites subjected to rational engineering for biosynthetic production of their analogs. Because they are encoded in a single open reading frame and are post-translationally small in size, type III polyketide synthases are ideal targets for protein engineering. The relative ease with which these genes are expressed makes molecular biological manipulation to obtain mutated enzymes more procurable, ameliorating analysis of its biosynthetic pathway. In summary, time devoted to modification of biosynthetic proteins and unravelling of the detailed reaction mechanisms involved in biosynthesis will be shortened, paving the way for a much wider scope for metabolic engineers in future. This review focuses on the use of chalcone synthase, octaketide synthase and pentaketide chromone synthase for rational biosynthetic engineering to generate molecular diversity and pursue innovative, biologically potent compounds.     

Two flavonoids and other compounds from the aerial parts of Centaurea bracteata from Italy

The flowering aerial parts of Centaurea bracteata Scop. (Asteraceae) have been studied for the first time. Nineteen compounds were isolated and identified, namely a sterol glucoside, two phenolic acids, three quinic acid derivatives, and 13 flavonoids, two of which, are new natural products. Structural elucidation was performed mainly by mean of FABMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy.