Polyhydroxylated alkaloids -- natural occurrence and therapeutic applications

Over one hundred polyhydroxylated alkaloids have been isolated from plants and micro-organisms. These alkaloids can be potent and highly selective glycosidase inhibitors and are arousing great interest as tools to study cellular recognition and as potential therapeutic agents. However, only three of the natural products so far have been widely studied for therapeutic potential due largely to the limited commercial availability of the other compounds.     

The Isolation and Identification of Alkaloids from Alangium salviifolium (Linn. F) Wangerin

Four alkaloids have been isolated from branches of Alangium salviifolium (L.f.) Wanger. and identified as venoterpine, ankorine, cephaeline and psychotrine by m.p., elementary analysis and spectroscopic data. Among them, the monoterpenoid alkaloid venoterpine is not isolated so far from Alangiaceae.     

A study of the alkaloids in Cephalotaxus and their bearing on the chemotaxonomic problems of the genus

The family Cephalotaxaceae contains so far known only 1 genus with 8 species and possibly 2-3 varieties mostly native in China. In recent years, some ester alkaloids of Cephalotaxus have been shown significant activity in a variety of experimental leukemia systems. 6 species (including varieties) of the genus have been investigated for their alkaloids. The detected alkaloids in Cephalotaxaceous plants, from the chemotaxonomic point of view, may be of some significance to the plant systemstics. Our present study has indicated that: (1) The species C. sinensis and C. fortunei (C. oliveri ?) are chemically considered to be more primitive than others, while C. harringtonia, C. hainanensis and C. wilsoniana (including C. mannii?) seem to be derived. (2) Chemical evidence has suggested that the genus Cephalotaxus be accorded a family rank. (3) On the basis of morphology, anatomy, embryogeny, geographical distribution etc., the recent findings in the chemistry of Cephalotaxaceae support the inclusion of Cephalotaxaceae, Taxaceae and Podocarpaceae in Taxineae of Coniferales. (4) C. fortunei, C. hainanensis and C. oliveri (C. harringtonia) contain richer ester alkaloids than other species of the genus. C. fortunei which has a wide distribution and great amount in many provinces of China, may prove to be a good new resource for antitumor medicine.     

Metabolic Engineering of Tropane Alkaloid Biosynthesis in Plants

Over the past decade, the evolving commercial importance of so-called plant secondary metabolites has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism and, particularly, in the possibilities to enhance the yield of fine metabolites by means of genetic engineering. Plant alkaloids, which constitute one of the largest groups of natural products, provide many pharmacologically active compounds. Several genes in the tropane alkaloids biosynthesis pathways have been cloned, making the metabolic engineering of these alkaloids possible. The content of the target chemical scopolamine could be significantly increased by various approaches, such as introducing genes encoding the key biosynthetic enzymes or genes encoding regulatory proteins to overcome the specific rate-limiting steps. In addition, antisense genes have been used to block competitive pathways. These investigations have opened up new, promising perspectives for increased production in plants or plant cell culture. Recent achievements have been made in the metabolic engineering of plant tropane alkaloids and some new powerful strategies are reviewed in the present paper.     

药用山蚂蝗属植物的化学成分和药理活性研究进展

由于在中药中的广泛应用,近年来对豆科Leguminosae山蚂蝗属Desmodium Desv.植物的研究已成为热点。山蚂蝗属植物的化学成分主要包括黄酮类、生物碱类、萜类、甾醇类、烷类及各种烷衍生物等,具有抗氧化性、抗炎、镇痛解热、抗菌、抗虫、抗心脑血管疾病等药理活性。本文对山蚂蝗属中小槐花、广东金钱草、三点金、小叶三点金、假地豆、大叶山蚂蝗、饿蚂蝗等药用植物的研究进行总结,综述其化学成分及生物活性的研究进展,旨在为该属植物的进一步研究与利用提供参考。     

Alcaloïdes des feuilles du Cinchona ledgeriana

Five monomeric and seven quasi-dimeric indole alkaloids were isolated from the leaves of Cinchona ledgeriana, five are known; the structures of two novel quasi-dimeric alkaloids have been elucidated by chemical correlation.     

Metabolic Engineering of Tropane Alkaloid Biosynthesis in Plants

Over the past decade, the evolving commercial importance of so-called plant secondary metabolites has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism and, particularly, in the possibilities to enhance the yield of fine metabolites by means of genetic engineering. Plant alkaloids, which constitute one of the largest groups of natural products, provide many pharmacologically active compounds. Several genes in the tropane alkaloids biosynthesis pathways have been cloned, making the metabolic engineering of these alkaloids possible. The content of the target chemical scopolamine could be significantly increased by various approaches, such as introducing genes encoding the key biosynthetic enzymes or genes encoding regulatory proteins to overcome the specific rate-limiting steps. In addition, antisense genes have been used to block competitive pathways. These investigations have opened up new, promising perspectives for increased production in plants or plant cell culture. Recent achievements have been made in the metabolic engineering of plant tropane alkaloids and some new powerful strategies are reviewed in the present paper.     

Damipipecolin and damituricin, novel bioactive bromopyrrole alkaloids from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella damicornis

Two new bromopyrrole alkaloids, damipipecolin (1) and damituricin (2), have been isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella damicornis, and their structures established through spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1 and 2 extend the structural variety of the so far known pyrrole alkaloids; in these compounds, the 4-bromopyrrole 2-carboxylic acid is directly condensed with a non-protein cyclic alpha-amino acid, the (2R, 4R)-trans-4-hydroxypipecolic acid and (2R, 4R)-cis-N,N'-dimethyl-4-hydroxyproline (D-turicine) in 1 and 2, respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 were found to display a modulating effect of the serotonin receptor activity in vitro.     

Alkaloids of Lycopodium magellanicum

Six alkaloids have been isolated from Lycopodium magellanicum. These include the known alkaloids lycopodine, acetyldihydrolycopodine, lycodine, N-methyllycodine, acetylfawcettine and a new alkaloid, 5-dehydro-magellanine. The chemical correlation of magellanine and paniculatine and the establishment of their absolute configuration are described.     

Alkaloidal constituents of Mucuna pruriens seeds

The seeds of Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. after chemical analysis afforded four tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids which have been isolated for the first time from M. pruriens. Out of them, two are new whose structures have been elucidated by spectroscopic methods.     

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.     

Marine Pyridoacridine Alkaloids: Biosynthesis and Biological Activities

Pyridoacridines are a class of strictly marine‐derived alkaloids that constitute one of the largest chemical families of marine alkaloids. During the last few years, both natural pyridoacridines and their analogues have constituted excellent targets for synthetic works. They have been the subject of intense study due to their significant biological activities; cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, insecticidal, anti‐HIV, and anti‐parasitic activities. In the present review, 95 pyridoacridine alkaloids isolated from marine organisms are discussed in term of their occurrence, biosynthesis, biological activities, and structural assignment.     

Progress in the Total Synthesis of Antitumor Tetrahydroisoquinoline Alkaloids

Among the tetrahydroisoquinoline(THIQ) of natural products, a family of THIQ alkaloids has the characteristics of similar biosynthetic pathway. Such THIQ alkaloids family mainly include Renieramycins, Ecteinasicdins, Tetrazaomine, Lemonomycin, etc. Most of these natural compounds have strong antitumor activities, and its family member Ecteinasicdins743 (ET-743, Trabectedin) has been marketed in the European Union and the United States for the treatment of advanced soft tissue tumors and ovarian cancer. Because of the excellent biological activity and complex chemical structure of this kind of THIQ products, it has aroused great interest of biologists and chemists, and many synthetic chemists have paid considerable efforts to their total synthesis over the past decade. Based on this, the recent advances in the total synthesis of such THIQ alkaloids are reviewed.     

Alstrostines in Rubiaceae: Alstrostine A from Chassalia curviflora var. ophioxyloides and a novel derivative,rudgeifoline from Rudgea cornifolia

Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids have frequently been isolated from the species-rich Psychotria alliance (Rubiaceae), a complex group including several tribes and genera. In our aim of understanding the chemical diversification within this remarkably heterogeneous group, members of two genera of the tribe Palicoureeae have been studied. Alstrostine A was isolated from Chassalia curviflora var. ophioxyloides, and a novel derivative, rudgeifoline from Rudgea cornifolia, respectively. Alstrostines, an unusual class of alkaloids comprising one tryptamine and two iridoid units, have recently been discovered in Alstonia rostrata (Apocynaceae). The presence of alstrostines in two rubiaceous species is remarkable but not unexpected as both families share similar biosynthetic pathways and are capable of synthesizing related alkaloids.     

C19-、C20-二萜生物碱抗肿瘤活性研究进展

二萜生物碱具有较高的药理活性和药用价值，一直以来为药理学家和临床医生所重视，但对于其抗肿瘤作用的报道却并不多见，主 要集中于 C19-、C20- 二萜生物碱。综述近 10 年来 C19-、C20- 二萜生物碱抗肿瘤作用的基础及临床研究进展，并对当前研究存在的不足提出 见解，为进一步研究及应用提供参考。     

Floral fragrances in two closely related fruit fly orchids,Bulbophyllum hortorum and B. macranthoides (Orchidaceae): assortments of phenylbutanoids to attract tephritid fruit fly males

Floral chemical components are important cues used by plants to attract pollinators. One outstanding case is “fruit fly orchids” in the genus of Bulbophyllum to attract their pollinators by releasing characteristic fragrances. Dacini fruit flies are main or exclusive pollinators which are strongly attracted to certain natural chemicals, either methyl eugenol (ME: a phenylpropanoid) or raspberry ketone (RK: a phenylbutanoid). Furthermore, zingerone (ZN: a phenylbutanoid) has been characterized as the attractant for both ME- and RK-sensitive fruit fly species. In the present study, we examined chemical profiles of two closely related Bulbophyllum orchids—B. hortorum, and B. macranthoides subsp. tollenoniferum—distributed in Papua New Guinea and the Southeast Asian countries, respectively. We first observed that RK-sensitive flies were attracted to these orchids by ex situ cultivation in Penang, Malaysia. These Bulbophyllum orchids contained RK and/or ZN as their main floral components. Other than these attractants, multiple phenylbutanoids including potential attractants for RK-sensitive species were identified from these orchids. Therefore, we examined attractiveness of potential phenylbutanoid attractants to an RK-sensitive melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae, using laboratory-reared flies. Furthermore, we analyzed molecular phylogenetic relationships among phenylpropanoid- or phenylbutanoid-producing orchids to see a relation between chemical profiles and phylogenetic classification in the related species.     

植物未知产物发育基因的分离方法

近年来,由于分子生物学和遗传学向发育生物学和生理学渗透,生长发育的遗传控制成为研究的热点。到目前为止,人们主要借助蛋白质的分离纯化分离了一些发育基因,但绝大部分发育基因的产物是未知的,其分离工作相当困难。近年来发展起来的基因克隆技术使未知产物的发育基因克隆取得了突破性的进展,本文对这些技术进行了简单的介绍和评述。     

Nontraditional microbial bioactive metabolites

Microorganisms produce low-molar-mass secondary metabolites exhibiting different biological activities, which are used.e.g., in medicine as antimicrobial and antifungal agents, alkaloids and toxins. Some of these substances have highly diverse biological activities and unusual structures. They are produced by streptomycetes, fungi, and bacilli, but interesting products have also been obtained from microorganisms growing in extreme conditions. Several thousands of microbial products have so far been discovered and many other, which can be potentially useful, and/or prospective for human use, can still be in the offing.     

Detection of superoxide dismutase (Cu–Zn) isoenzymes in leaves and pseudobulbs of Bulbophyllum morphologlorum Kraenzl orchid by comparative proteomic analysis

Typically, biological systems are protected from the toxic effect of free radicals by antioxidant defense. Extracts from orchids have been reported to show high levels of exogenous antioxidant activity including Bulbophyllum orchids but so far, there have been no reports on antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, differences in protein expression from leaves and pseudobulbs of Bulbophyllum morphologlorum Kraenzl and Dendrobium Sonia Earsakul were studied using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Interestingly, the largest group of these stress response proteins were associated with antioxidant defense and temperature stress, including superoxide dismutase (Cu–Zn) and heat shock protein 70. The high expression of this antioxidant enzyme from Bulbophyllum morphologlorum Kraenzl was confirmed by activity staining on native-PAGE, and the two Cu/Zn-SODs isoenzymes were identified as Cu/Zn-SOD 1 and Cu/Zn-SOD 2 by LC/MS/MS. The results suggested that Bulbophyllum orchid can be a potential plant source for medicines and natural antioxidant supplements.     

Alcaloïdes minoritaires de Capuronetta elegans (Apocynaceae)

Two monomeric and three dimeric new indole alkaloids derived from cleavamine have been isolated from the leaves and stem barks of Capuronetta elegans. Structural determination was made by physical and chemical correlations with the known major alkaloids of the plants.