Stereoselective total synthesis of amicoumacin C

Natural Products and Pharmacological Properties of Symbiotic Bacillota (Firmicutes) of Marine Macroalgae

The shift from the terrestrial to the marine environment to discover natural products has given rise to novel bioactive compounds, some of which have been approved for human medicine. However, the ocean, which makes up nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface, contains macro- and microorganisms whose natural products are yet to be explored. Among these underexplored marine organisms are macroalgae and their symbiotic microbes, such as Bacillota, a phylum of mostly Gram-positive bacteria previously known as Firmicutes. Macroalgae-associated Bacillota often produce chemical compounds that protect them and their hosts from competitive and harmful rivals. Here, we summarised the natural products made by macroalgae-associated Bacillota and their pharmacological properties. We discovered that these Bacillota are efficient producers of novel biologically active molecules. However, only a few macroalgae had been investigated for chemical constituents of their Bacillota: nine brown, five red and one green algae. Thus, Bacillota, especially from the marine habitat, should be investigated for potential pharmaceutical leads. Moreover, additional diverse biological assays for the isolated molecules of macroalgae Bacillota should be implemented to expand their bioactivity profiles, as only antibacterial properties were tested for most compounds.

Concise synthesis of amino acid component of amicoumacins via dihydrooxazine formation through intramolecular conjugate addition

Amicoumacins are a family of antibiotics with a variety of important bioactivities. A concise and efficient method was developed for synthesizing the amino acid component of amicoumacins via the corresponding dihydrooxazine intermediate. The dihydrooxazine ring was formed with complete stereoselectivity through an intramolecular conjugate addition of a δ-trichloroacetimidoyloxy-α,β-unsaturated ester, which was obtained from a known 4,6-O-p-methoxybenzylidene-protected d-glucose. The synthesis developed in this study can be used to synthesize the building blocks of amicoumacins and can likely be adapted for the synthesis of other types of molecules possessing dihydrooxazine rings or amino alcohol moieties.

Fluorinated Olefinic Lactams: The Case of Amino Acids – Preparation and Mechanistic Studies

Herein, we report the synthesis of analogues of amino acids with a monofluorovinyl moiety. Interestingly, we have found that cyclization of the obtained products proceeds easily in all cases. The cyclization process has not previously been observed at this reaction stage, and such fluorinated lactams derived from phenylalanine, valine, alanine have not been described before.

Application of Pd-Catalyzed C-H Alkylation Reaction in Total Syntheses of Twelve Amicoumacin-Type Natural Products

Enantioselective total syntheses of 12 amicoumacin-type natural products are accomplished with a palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H alkylation as the key step to furnish the 3,4-dihydroisocoumarin scaffold. The target chemicals are assembled in a convergent protocol by merging 3,4-dihydroisocoumarin derived amine part with categories of acid segments that are efficiently prepared by chemoselective catalytic oxidation of chiral 1,2-dihydroxyethylfuran-2(5H)-ones. Afterward, the cytotoxicity of amicoumacins on five cancer cell lines and one normal cell line is investigated.

Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Hetiamacins A-F

Herein, we report a concise and stereoselective approach for the asymmetric total synthesis of hetiamacins A-F on the basis of the total synthesis of amicoumacin C, which could be synthesized from a known l-aspartic acid derivative. The synthesis of hetiamacin A was accomplished by an 11-step sequence that featured 1,3-oxazinane ring formation of amicoumacin B followed by amidation in one pot. Hetiamacins B-F were synthesized from amicoumacin A in only one step.

Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationship of Xenocoumacin 1 and Analogues as Inhibitors of Ribosomal Protein Synthesis

Ribosomal protein synthesis is an important target in antibacterial drug discovery. Numerous natural products have served as starting points for the development of antibiotics. We report here the total synthesis of xenocoumacin 1, a natural product that binds to 16S ribosomal RNA at a highly conserved region, as well as analogues thereof. Preliminary structure-activity relationship studies were aimed at understanding and modulating the selectivity between eukaryotic and prokaryotic ribosomes. Modifications were mainly tolerated in the aromatic region. Whole-cell activity against Gram-negative bacteria is limited by efflux and penetration, as demonstrated in genetically modified strains of E. coli. Analogues with high selectivity for eukaryotic ribosomes were identified, but it was not possible to obtain inhibitors selective for bacterial protein synthesis. Achieving high selectivity (albeit not the desired one) was thus possible despite the high homology between eukaryotic and prokaryotic ribosomes in the binding region.

3,4-Dihydroisocoumarins, Interesting Natural Products: Isolation, Organic Syntheses and Biological Activities

BACKGROUND

3,4-dihydroisocoumarins are an important small group belonging to the class of naturally occurring lactones isolated from different bacterial strains, molds, lichens, and plants. The structures of these natural compounds show various types of substitution in their basic skeleton and this variability influences deeply their biological activities. These lactones are structural subunits of several natural products and serve as useful intermediates in the synthesis of different heterocyclic molecules, which exhibit a wide range of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antiplasmodial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiangiogenic and antitumoral activities, among others. Their syntheses have attracted attention of many researchers reporting many synthetic strategies to achieve 3,4-dihydroisocoumarins and other related structures.

OBJECTIVE

In this context, the isolation of these natural compounds from different sources, their syntheses and biological activities are reviewed, adding the most recent advances and related developments.

CONCLUSION

This review aims to encourage further work on the isolation and synthesis of this class of natural products. It would be beneficial for synthetic as well as the medicinal chemists to design selective, optimized dihydroisocoumarin derivatives as potential drug candidates, since dihydroisocoumarin scaffolds have significant utility in the development of therapeutically relevant and biologically active compounds.

Deep Functional Profiling Facilitates the Evaluation of the Antibacterial Potential of the Antibiotic Amicoumacin

The global spread of antibiotic resistance is forcing the scientific community to find new molecular strategies to counteract it. Deep functional profiling of microbiomes provides an alternative source for the discovery of novel antibiotic producers and probiotics. Recently, we implemented this ultrahigh-throughput screening approach for the isolation of Bacillus pumilus strains efficiently producing the ribosome-targeting antibiotic amicoumacin A (Ami). Proteomics and metabolomics revealed essential insight into the activation of Ami biosynthesis. Here, we applied omics to boost Ami biosynthesis, providing the optimized cultivation conditions for high-scale production of Ami. Ami displayed a pronounced activity against Lactobacillales and Staphylococcaceae, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains, which was determined using both classical and massive single-cell microfluidic assays. However, the practical application of Ami is limited by its high cytotoxicity and particularly low stability. The former is associated with its self-lactonization, serving as an improvised intermediate state of Ami hydrolysis. This intramolecular reaction decreases Ami half-life at physiological conditions to less than 2 h, which is unprecedented for a terminal amide. While we speculate that the instability of Ami is essential for Bacillus ecology, we believe that its stable analogs represent attractive lead compounds both for antibiotic discovery and for anticancer drug development.

Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from Bacillus subtilis: A Comprehensive Review

Bacillus subtilis is widely underappreciated for its inherent biosynthetic potential. This report comprehensively summarizes the known bioactive secondary metabolites from B. subtilis and highlights potential applications as plant pathogen control agents, drugs, and biosurfactants. B. subtilis is well known for the production of cyclic lipopeptides exhibiting strong surfactant and antimicrobial activities, such as surfactins, iturins, and fengycins. Several polyketide-derived macrolides as well as nonribosomal peptides, dihydroisocoumarins, and linear lipopeptides with antimicrobial properties have been reported, demonstrating the biosynthetic arsenal of this bacterium. Promising efforts toward the application of B. subtilis strains and their natural products in areas of agriculture and medicine are underway. However, industrial-scale availability of these compounds is currently limited by low fermentation yields and challenging accessibility via synthesis, necessitating the development of genetically engineered strains and optimized cultivation processes. We hope that this review will attract renewed interest in this often-overlooked bacterium and its impressive biosynthetic skill set.

Activating and Attenuating the Amicoumacin Antibiotics

The amicoumacins belong to a class of dihydroisocoumarin natural products and display antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities. Amicoumacins are the pro-drug activation products of a bacterial nonribosomal peptide-polyketide hybrid biosynthetic pathway and have been isolated from Gram-positive Bacillus and Nocardia species. Here, we report the stimulation of a “cryptic” amicoumacin pathway in the entomopathogenic Gram-negative bacterium Xenorhabdus bovienii, a strain not previously known to produce amicoumacins. X. bovienii participates in a multi-lateral symbiosis where it is pathogenic to insects and mutualistic to its Steinernema nematode host. Waxmoth larvae are common prey of the X. bovienii-Steinernema pair. Employing a medium designed to mimic the amino acid content of the waxmoth circulatory fluid led to the detection and characterization of amicoumacins in X. bovienii. The chemical structures of the amicoumacins were supported by 2D-NMR, HR-ESI-QTOF-MS, tandem MS, and polarimeter spectral data. A comparative gene cluster analysis of the identified X. bovienii amicoumacin pathway to that of the Bacillus subtilis amicoumacin pathway and the structurally-related Xenorhabdus nematophila xenocoumacin pathway is presented. The X. bovienii pathway encodes an acetyltransferase not found in the other reported pathways, which leads to a series of N-acetyl-amicoumacins that lack antibacterial activity. N-acetylation of amicoumacin was validated through in vitro protein biochemical studies, and the impact of N-acylation on amicoumacin’s mode of action was examined through ribosomal structural analyses.