Lithocarpins E—G, Potent Anti‐Tumor Tenellone‐Macrolides from the Deep‐Sea Fungus Phomopsis lithocarpus FS508

The discovery of a novel single-function intermolecular Diels-Alder enzyme for the biosynthesis of hetero-dimer lithocarpins

The deep-sea fungus Phomopsis lithocarpus FS508 produces tenellone-macrolide conjugated hetero-dimer lithocarpins A-G with anti-tumor activities. The deficiency of new intermolecular Diels-Alder (DA) enzymes hindered the development of new bioactive hetero-dimers. A novel single-function intermolecular DA enzyme, g7882, was initially discovered in this study. The deletion of g7882 led to the disappearance of lithocarpin A and an increase in precursor level . the overexpression of g7882 significantly improved lithocarpin A yield. The in vitro function of g7882DA was also confirmed by biochemical reaction using tenellone B as a substrate. Additionally, the knockout of KS modules of PKS in cluster 41 and cluster 81 (lit cluster) eliminated the production of lithocarpins, which firstly explains the biosynthetic process of hetero-dimer lithocarpins mediated by DA enzyme in FS508. Furthermore, the removal of a novel acetyltransferase GPAT in cluster 41 and the oxidoreductase, prenyltransferase in cluster81 resulted in the reduction of lithocarpin A in P. lithocarpus. The overexpression of gpat in P. lithocarpus FS508 improved the yield of lithocarpin A significantly and produced a new tenellone derivative lithocarol G. This study offers a new DA enzyme tool for the biosynthesis of novel hetero-dimer and biochemical clues for the biosynthetic logic elucidation of lithocarpins.

Unprecedented Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Polyketides from Cultures of Diaporthe africana sp. nov

Four unprecedented polyketides named isoprenylisobenzofuran B (2), isoprenylisobenzofuran C₁/C₂ (3), diaporisoindole F₁/F₂ (4), and isochromophilonol A₁/A₂ (7) were isolated from ethyl acetate extracts of the newly described endophytic fungus Diaporthe africana. Additionally, the previously reported cyclic depsipeptide eucalactam B (1) was also identified, along with the known compounds diaporisoindole A/B (5), tenellone B (6) and beauvericin (8). The taxonomic identification of the fungus was accomplished using a polyphasic approach combining multi-gene phylogenetic analysis and microscopic morphological characters. The structures 1-8 were determined by a detailed analysis of their spectral data, namely high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESIMS), 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, as well as electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. In addition, chemical methods such as Marfey's analysis were also employed to determine the stereochemistry in compound 1. All the compounds obtained were evaluated for antimicrobial and in vitro cytotoxic properties. Compounds 3-8 were active against certain fungi and Gram-positive bacteria with MIC values of 8.3 to 66.6 µg/mL. In addition, 3-5 displayed cytotoxic effects (22.0 ≤ IC₅₀ ≤ 59.2 µM) against KB3.1 and L929 cell lines, whereas compounds 6-8 inhibited the growth of seven mammalian cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ ranging from 17.7 to 49.5 µM (6), 0.9 to 12.9 µM (7) and 1.9 to 4.3 µM (8).

Marine natural products

Covering: January to December 2021This review covers the literature published in 2021 for marine natural products (MNPs), with 736 citations (724 for the period January to December 2021) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green, brown and red algae, sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates, echinoderms, mangroves and other intertidal plants and microorganisms. The emphasis is on new compounds (1425 in 416 papers for 2021), together with the relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Pertinent reviews, biosynthetic studies, first syntheses, and syntheses that led to the revision of structures or stereochemistries, have been included. An analysis of the number of authors, their affiliations, domestic and international collection locations, focus of MNP studies, citation metrics and journal choices is discussed.

Neocucurbols A-H, Phomactin Diterpene Derivatives from the Marine-Derived Fungus Neocucurbitaria unguis-hominis FS685

Neocucurbols A-D (1-4) are diterpene derivatives that possess a complex 6/6/5/5/6 polycyclic ring system with a characteristic tetrahedrofuran bridge ring skeleton. Neocucurbols E-H (5-8) are diterpenes that feature a 6/8/6 tricyclic ring system. Their structures were unambiguously determined by detailed spectroscopic analyses, X-ray diffractions studies, and ECD calculations. All compounds (1-8) were evaluated for in vitro antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities.

Rapid Mining of Novel α-Glucosidase and Lipase Inhibitors from Streptomyces sp. HO1518 Using UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS

A rapid and sensitive method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS) was applied for the analysis of the metabolic profile of acarviostatin-containing aminooligosaccharides derived from Streptomyces sp. HO1518. A total of ninety-eight aminooligosaccharides, including eighty potential new compounds, were detected mainly based on the characteristic fragment ions originating from quinovosidic bond cleavages in their molecules. Following an LC-MS-guided separation technique, seven new aminooligosaccharides (10–16) along with four known related compounds (17–20) were obtained directly from the crude extract of strain HO1518. Compounds 10–13 represent the first examples of aminooligosaccharides with a rare acarviostatin II02-type structure. In addition, all isolates displayed considerable inhibitory effects on three digestive enzymes, which revealed that the number of the pseudo-trisaccharide core(s), the feasible length of the oligosaccharides, and acyl side chain exerted a crucial influence on their bioactivities. These results demonstrated that the UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS-based metabolomics approach could be applied for the rapid identification of aminooligosaccharides and other similar structures in complex samples. Furthermore, this study highlights the potential of acylated aminooligosaccharides with conspicuous α-glucosidase and lipase inhibition for the future development of multi-target anti-diabetic drugs.