Novel assays and novel strains – promising routes to new antibiotics?

Biosynthetic Potential of Bioactive Streptomycetes Isolated From Arid Region of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan (India)

Acquisition of Actinobacteria, especially Streptomyces from previously underexplored habitats and the exploration of their biosynthetic potential have gained much attention in the rejuvenated antibiotics search programs. Herein, we isolated some Streptomyces strains, from an arid region of the Great Indian Thar Desert, which possess an ability to produce novel bioactive compounds. Twenty-one morphologically distinctive strains differing in their aerial and substrate mycelium were isolated by employing a stamping method. Among them, 12 strains were identified by a two-level antimicrobial screening method, exerting antimicrobial effects against a panel of indicator strains including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species. Based on their potent antimicrobial activity, four isolates were further explored by 16S rRNA gene-based identification, genetic screening, and metabolomic analysis; and it was found that these strains belong to the genus Streptomyces. The selected strains were found to have polyketide synthase and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase systems. In addition, extracellular metabolomic screening revealed that the isolates produced analogs of doxorubicinol, pyrromycin, erythromycin, and 6-13 other putative novel metabolites. These results demonstrate the significance of Streptomyces inhabiting the arid region of Thar Desert, suggesting that similar arid environments can be considered as the reservoirs of novel Streptomyces strains that could have biotechnological significance.

Biodiversity in production of antibiotics and other bioactive compounds

Microbes continue to play a highly considerable role in the drug discovery and development process. Nevertheless, the number of new chemical entities (NCEs) of microbial origin that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been reduced in the past decade. This scarcity can be partly attributed to the redundancy in the discovered molecules from microbial isolates, which are isolated from common terrestrial ecological units. However, this situation can be partly overcome by exploring rarely exploited ecological niches as the source of microbes, which reduces the chances of isolating compounds similar to existing ones. The use of modern and advanced isolation techniques, modification of the existing fermentation methods, genetic modifications to induce expression of silent genes, analytical tools for the detection and identification of new chemical entities, use of polymers in fermentation to enhance yield of fermented compounds, and so on, have all aided in enhancing the frequency of acquiring novel compounds. These compounds are representative of numerous classes of diverse compounds. Thus, compounds of microbial origin and their analogues undergoing clinical trials continue to demonstrate the importance of compounds from microbial sources in modern drug discovery.

Antibacterial and antifungal activities of polyketide metabolite from marine Streptomyces sp. AP-123 and its cytotoxic effect

A Gram positive, filamentous, spore forming antagonistic Streptomyces sp. AP-123 derived from marine region of Andra Pradesh, India, was studied for its medical importance. Among the 210 Streptomyces strains screened at 64.3% exhibited activity against Gram positive bacteria, 48.5% showed activity towards Gram negative bacteria, 38.8% exhibited both Gram positive and negative bacteria and 80.85% strains revealed significant antifungal activity. However, primary screening revealed that Streptomyces sp. AP-123 exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against all the tested bacteria compared to other Streptomyces strains. The presence of l-diaminopimelic acid and glycine in the cell wall hydrolysates and streptomycin resistance indicated the strain belonged to Streptomyces genus. The 16S rDNA gene based phylogenetic affiliation was determined by using bioinformatic tools and it was identified as Streptomyces sp. AP-123 with 99% sequence similarity to Streptomyces flavogriseus. The antimicrobial substances were extracted by hexane and ethyl acetate from spent medium in which Streptomyces sp. AP-123 was cultivated at 30 °C for 5 d. The antimicrobial activity was assessed using broth micro-dilution technique. A compound was obtained by eluting the crude extract using varying concentrations of solvents followed by the chromatographic purification. Based on the IR, (13)C NMR and (1)H NMR spectral data, the compound was identified as polyketide related antibiotic. It exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and also showed a potent cytotoxic activity against cell lines viz. Vero (Green monkey kidney) and HEP2 (laryngeal carcinoma cells) in vitro. The lowest Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the compound against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus were 25 and 37.5 μg mL(-1), respectively. Against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa it exhibited MIC of 50 and 37.58 μg mL(-1), respectively. However, against Candida albicans and filamentous fungus, Aspergillus niger the MIC values were 12.5 and 25 μg mL(-1), respectively. Cloning and sequence analysis of ketoacyl synthase (KS) gene revealed similarity to the type II polyketide synthase (PKS) gene of Streptomyces species.

Methods for identifying compounds that specifically target translation

This chapter presents methods and protocols suitable for the identification and characterization of inhibitors of the prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic translational apparatus as a whole or targeting specific, underexploited targets of the bacterial protein synthetic machinery such as translation initiation and aminoacylation. Some of the methods described have been used successfully for the high-throughput screening of libraries of natural or synthetic compounds and make use of model "universal" mRNAs that can be translated with similar efficiency by cellfree extracts of bacterial, yeast, and HeLa cells. Other methods presented here are suitable for secondary screening tests aimed at identifying a specific target of an antibiotic within the translational pathway of prokaryotic cells.