Discovery and assembly-line biosynthesis of the lymphostin pyrroloquinoline alkaloid family of mTOR inhibitors in Salinispora bacteria

Insights into lomaiviticin biosynthesis. Isolation and structure elucidation of (-)-homoseongomycin

The dimeric diazofluorenes known as the lomaiviticins are produced by the marine bacterium Salinispora pacifica DPJ-0019. Investigation of the fermentation broth of DPJ-0019 has yielded the first monomeric benzo[b]fluorene isolated from this species, (-)-homoseongomycin (13). (-)-Homoseongomycin (13) is related to the known natural product seongomycin (10), which is co-produced with the monomeric diazofluorenes known as the kinamycins. We describe the synthesis of the isotopically labeled derivative homoseongomycin-d5 (14), via the intermediacy of the diazofluorene "prelomaiviticin-d5" (12). Our studies establish that (-)-homoseongomycin (13) may be derived from prelomaiviticin (11) and suggest that 13 and 10 are shunt or detoxification metabolites in lomaiviticin and kinamycin biosynthesis, respectively.

Bioactivity-guided genome mining reveals the lomaiviticin biosynthetic gene cluster in Salinispora tropica

The use of genome sequences has become routine in guiding the discovery and identification of microbial natural products and their biosynthetic pathways. In silico prediction of molecular features, such as metabolic building blocks, physico-chemical properties or biological functions, from orphan gene clusters has opened up the characterization of many new chemo- and genotypes in genome mining approaches. Here, we guided our genome mining of two predicted enediyne pathways in Salinispora tropica CNB-440 by a DNA interference bioassay to isolate DNA-targeting enediyne polyketides. An organic extract of S. tropica showed DNA-interference activity that surprisingly was not abolished in genetic mutants of the targeted enediyne pathways, ST_pks1 and spo. Instead we showed that the product of the orphan type II polyketide synthase pathway, ST_pks2, is solely responsible for the DNA-interfering activity of the parent strain. Subsequent comparative metabolic profiling revealed the lomaiviticins, glycosylated diazofluorene polyketides, as the ST_pks2 products. This study marks the first report of the 59 open reading frame lomaiviticin gene cluster (lom) and supports the biochemical logic of their dimeric construction through a pathway related to the kinamycin monomer.

Precursor-Directed Generation of Amidine Containing Ammosamide Analogs: Ammosamides E-P

Ammosamides E-F (1-2), are amidine analogs of the ammosamide family of alkaloids isolated from a marine-derived Streptomyces variabilis. Further studies with S. variabilis revealed a variety of aryl and alkyl amines added into the fermentation media could be efficiently incorporated into the ammosamide framework to generate a library of precursor-directed amidine analogs, ammosamides G-P (9 - 18). We demonstrate that the amines are introduced via non-enzymatic addition to the iminium ion of ammosamide C. Biological evaluation of the amidine analogs against quinone reductase 2 (QR2) showed low nM potency for a number of analogs. When tested for in vivo activity against a panel of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell-lines there was a clear increase in potency by incorporation of lipophilic alkylamines, with the most potent compounds having sub μM IC(50) values (0.4 to 0.8 μM).

Lessons from the past and charting the future of marine natural products drug discovery and chemical biology

Marine life forms are an important source of structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites, several of which have inspired the development of new classes of therapeutic agents. These success stories have had to overcome difficulties inherent to natural products-derived drugs, such as adequate sourcing of the agent and issues related to structural complexity. Nevertheless, several marine-derived agents are now approved, most as "first-in-class" drugs, with five of seven appearing in the past few years. Additionally, there is a rich pipeline of clinical and preclinical marine compounds to suggest their continued application in human medicine. Understanding of how these agents are biosynthetically assembled has accelerated in recent years, especially through interdisciplinary approaches, and innovative manipulations and re-engineering of some of these gene clusters are yielding novel agents of enhanced pharmaceutical properties compared with the natural product.

Ammosamide D, an oxidatively ring opened ammosamide analog from a marine-derived Streptomyces variabilis

Ammosamide D (1), an oxidized analog of the ammosamide family, was isolated from a marine-derived Streptomyces variabilis. Pyrroloquinoline containing alkaloids are a growing class of natural products, with 1 being the first example of an oxidized analog resulting in a 5,6-dioxo-5,6-dihydroquinoline ring system. Attempts at chemical conversion of ammosamide B to ammosamide D revealed that a strong chemical oxidant is required. Ammosamide D has modest cytotoxicity to the MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cell line.