Dassonmycins A and B, Polycyclic Thioalkaloids from a Marine Sponge-Derived Nocardiopsis dassonvillei SCSIO 40065

Comprehensive updates on the biological features and metabolic potential of the versatile extremophilic actinomycete Nocardiopsis dassonvillei

Nocardiopsis dassonvillei prevails under harsh environmental conditions and the purpose of this review is to highlight its biological features and recent biotechnological applications. The organism prevails in salt-rich soils/marine systems and some strains endure extreme temperatures and pH. A few isolates are associated with marine organisms and others cause human diseases. Comparative genomic analysis indicates its versatility in producing biotechnologically relevant metabolites. Antimicrobial, cytotoxic, anticancer and growth promoting biomolecules are obtained from this organism. It also synthesizes biotechnologically important enzymes. Bioactive compounds and enzymes obtained from this actinomycete provide evidence regarding its metabolic competence and its potential economic value.

The potential of marine-derived piperazine alkaloids: Sources, structures and bioactivities

Marine-derived piperazine alkaloids (MDPAs) constitute a significant group of natural compounds known for their diverse structures and biological activities. Over the past five decades, substantial efforts have been devoted to isolating these alkaloids from marine sources and characterizing their chemical and bioactive profiles. To date, a total of 922 marine-derived piperazine alkaloids have been reported from various marine organisms. These compounds demonstrate a wide range of pharmacological properties, including cytotoxicity, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and various other activities. Notably, among these activities, cytotoxicity emerges as the most prominent characteristic of marine-derived piperazine alkaloids. This review also summarizes the structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies associated with the cytotoxicity of these compounds. In summary, our objective is to provide an overview of the research progress concerning marine-derived piperazine alkaloids, with the aim of fostering their continued development and utilization.

Highly Enantioselective Construction of the Polycyclic Piperazin-2-ones via NHC-Catalyzed [12 + 2] Cycloadditions

NHC-catalyzed diastereoselective and enantioselective [12 + 2] higher-order cycloadditions of 5H-benzo[a]-pyrrolizine-3-carbaldehydes with cyclic sulfonic imines are described. Various optically pure polycyclic piperazin-2-ones were successfully constructed under mild reaction conditions with excellent diastereoselectivities and enantioselectivities. The generated chiral polycyclic piperazin-2-ones could be transformed to planar-chiral nine-membered cyclic amides via squaramide-catalyzed asymmetric ring-expansion reactions.

Pairing comparative genomics with tandem mass-based molecular networking allows to highly efficient discovery of nonribosomal peptides from Nocardia spp

Microbial natural products, particularly nonribosomal peptides (NRPs), have attracted significant attention due to their structural diversity and therapeutic potential. Nocardia, a genus of Actinomyces, is an important reservoir for natural products, especially NRPs. However, rediscovery is a significant challenge for mining new specialized metabolites from Nocardia, as well as from other sources. To overcome this challenge, we developed a strategy that combines comparative genomics with tandem mass-based molecular networking, which allows to efficiently discover new NRPs from Nocardia spp.. As a proof of concept, all genomes of Norcardia in NCBI database, including three strains from our lab, were compared with each other to prioritize unique biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in the three in-house Nocardia strains, particularly those containing nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPSs). Subsequently, the metabolomics data of those three in-house strains were analyzed employing tandem mass-based molecular networking. This led to the identification of a known lipopeptide, nocarjamide (1), and five new congeners (2-6) of nocarjamide, as well as a new decalipopeptide, nocarlipoamide (7), along with nocardimicin, a known compound found in Nocardia. The structure of the new decalipopeptide 7 was further extensively characterized using NMR, MS/MS, Marfey's analysis, and X-ray. In addition, the biosynthesis pathways for 1-7 were proposed through bioinformatics analysis, and thus the gene clusters responsible for biosynthesizing them were confirmed. Our results indicate that this strategy enables prompt dereplication of known compounds, rapid linkage of identified compounds with their biosynthesis gene cluster, and efficient discovery of new compounds.

New Insights on Biological Activities, Chemical Compositions, and Classifications of Marine Actinomycetes Antifouling Agents

Biofouling is the assemblage of undesirable biological materials and macro-organisms (barnacles, mussels, etc.) on submerged surfaces, which has unfavorable impacts on the economy and maritime environments. Recently, research efforts have focused on isolating natural, eco-friendly antifouling agents to counteract the toxicities of synthetic antifouling agents. Marine actinomycetes produce a multitude of active metabolites, some of which acquire antifouling properties. These antifouling compounds have chemical structures that fall under the terpenoids, polyketides, furanones, and alkaloids chemical groups. These compounds demonstrate eminent antimicrobial vigor associated with antiquorum sensing and antibiofilm potentialities against both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. They have also constrained larval settlements and the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, suggesting a strong anti-macrofouling activity. Despite their promising in vitro and in vivo biological activities, scaled-up production of natural antifouling agents retrieved from marine actinomycetes remains inapplicable and challenging. This might be attributed to their relatively low yield, the unreliability of in vitro tests, and the need for optimization before scaled-up manufacturing. This review will focus on some of the most recent marine actinomycete-derived antifouling agents, featuring their biological activities and chemical varieties after providing a quick overview of the disadvantages of fouling and commercially available synthetic antifouling agents. It will also offer different prospects of optimizations and analysis to scale up their industrial manufacturing for potential usage as antifouling coatings and antimicrobial and therapeutic agents.

Sulfur-containing marine natural products as leads for drug discovery and development

Among the large series of marine natural products (MNPs), sulfur-containing MNPs have emerged as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of a range of diseases. Herein, we reviewed 95 new sulfur-containing MNPs isolated during the period between 2021 and March 2023. In addition, we discuss that the widely used strategies and the emerging technologies including natural product-based antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), small-molecule-based proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs), nanotechnology-based drug carriers, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery have been used for improving the efficiency and success rate of NP-based drug development. We also provide perspectives regarding the challenges and opportunities in sulfur-containing MNPs based drug discovery and development and future research directions.

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.

Discovery of Efrotomycin Congeners and Heterologous Expression-Based Insights into the Self-Resistance Mechanism

Four new efrotomycins, A1-A4 (1-4), were isolated from the salt mine-derived Amycolatopsis cihanbeyliensis DSM 45679 and structurally determined. Efrotomycins A3 (3) and A4 (4) feature a tetrahydrofuran ring configured distinctly from known elfamycins. Heterologous expression of the efrotomycin gene cluster (efr BGC) in Streptomyces lividans SBT18 led to efrotomycin B1 (5), the yield of which was improved several fold upon introduction of the transporter gene efrT, a putative self-resistance determinant outside of the efr BGC.

Survey of natural products reported by Asian research groups in 2021

The new natural products reported in 2021 in peer-reviewed articles in journals with good reputations were reviewed and analyzed. The advances made by Asian research groups in the field of natural products chemistry in 2021 were summarized. Compounds with unique structural features and/or promising bioactivities originating from Asian natural sources were discussed based on their structural classification.

Genus Nocardiopsis: A Prolific Producer of Natural Products

Actinomycetes are currently one of the major sources of bioactive secondary metabolites used for medicine development. Accumulating evidence has shown that Nocardiopsis, a key class of actinomycetes, has the ability to produce novel bioactive natural products. This review covers the sources, distribution, bioactivities, biosynthesis, and structural characteristics of compounds isolated from Nocardiopsis in the period between March 2018 and 2021. Our results reveal that 67% of Nocardiopsis-derived natural products are reported for the first time, and 73% of them are isolated from marine Nocardiopsis. The chemical structures of the Nocardiopsis-derived compounds have diverse skeletons, concentrating on the categories of polyketides, peptides, terphenyls, and alkaloids. Almost 50% of the natural products isolated from Nocardiopsis have been discovered to display various bioactivities. These results fully demonstrate the great potential of the genus Nocardiopsis to produce novel bioactive secondary metabolites that may serve as a structural foundation for the development of novel drugs.

Diverse Secondary Metabolites from the Coral-Derived Fungus Aspergillus hiratsukae SCSIO 5Bn1003

Three new metabolites, including a cyclic tetrapeptide asperhiratide (1), an ecdysteroid derivative asperhiratine (2), and a sesquiterpene lactone asperhiratone (3), were isolated and identified from the soft coral-derived fungus Aspergillus hiratsukae SCSIO 5Bn1003, together with 10 known compounds. Their structures were elucidated via spectroscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, and electronic circular dichroism calculations. In addition, the absolute configuration of 1 was determined by Marfey's technique and an analysis of the acid hydrolysates using a chiral phase HPLC column. Among all the compounds, 6 and 8 showed medium cytotoxic activities against four tumor cell lines (SF-268, HepG-2, MCF-7, and A549), with IC50 values ranging from 31.03 ± 3.04 to 50.25 ± 0.54 µM. Meanwhile, they strongly inhibited α-glucosidase activities, with IC50 values of 35.73 ± 3.94 and 22.00 ± 2.45 µM, which were close to and even stronger than the positive control acarbose (IC50 = 32.92 ± 1.03 µM). Compounds 6-8 showed significant antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis, with MIC values of 10.26 ± 0.76 µM, 17.00 ± 1.25 µM, and 5.30 ± 0.29 µM, respectively. Compounds 9 and 12 exhibited potent radical scavenging activities against DPPH, with IC50 values of 12.23 ± 0.78 µM and 7.38 ± 1.16 µM. In addition, asperhiratide (1) was evaluated for anti-angiogenic activities in the in vivo zebrafish model, which showed a weak inhibitory effect on intersegmental vessel (ISV) formation.

Structurally Diverse Polycyclic Salicylaldehyde Derivative Enantiomers from a Marine-Derived Fungus Eurotium sp. SCSIO F452

To enlarge the chemical diversity of Eurotium sp. SCSIO F452, a talented marine-derived fungus, we further investigated its chemical constituents from a large-scale fermentation with modified culture. Four pairs of new salicylaldehyde derivative enantiomers, euroticins F-I (1–4), as well as a known one eurotirumin (5) were isolated and characterized. Compound 1 features an unprecedented constructed 6/6/6/5 tetracyclic structures, while 2 and 3 represent two new types of 6/6/5 scaffolds. Their structures were established by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, X-ray diffraction, ¹³C NMR, and electronic circular dichroism calculations. Selected compounds showed significant inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and moderate cytotoxic activities against SF-268, MCF-7, HepG2, and A549 cell lines.

Hot off the Press

A personal selection of 32 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as neopetrothiazide from a Neopetrosia species.