Fungal cyclooligomer depsipeptides: From classical biochemistry to combinatorial biosynthesis (original) (raw)

Fungal Depsides—Naturally Inspiring Molecules: Biosynthesis, Structural Characterization, and Biological Activities

Metabolites

Fungi represent a huge reservoir of structurally diverse bio-metabolites. Although there has been a marked increase in the number of isolated fungal metabolites over the past years, many hidden metabolites still need to be discovered. Depsides are a group of polyketides consisting of two or more ester-linked hydroxybenzoic acid moieties. They possess valuable bioactive properties, such as anticancer, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antifouling, and antioxidant qualities, as well as various human enzyme-inhibitory activities. This review provides an overview of the reported data on fungal depsides, including their sources, biosynthesis, physical and spectral data, and bioactivities in the period from 1975 to 2020. Overall, 110 metabolites and more than 122 references are confirmed. This is the first review of these multi-faceted metabolites from fungi.

Cyclodepsipeptides: A Rich Source of Biologically Active Compounds for Drug Research

Molecules, 2014

Faced with the need to find new drugs for all kinds of diseases, science sees that Nature offers numerous classes of compounds showing an impressively high biological potential. Among those are the cyclodepsipeptides, hybrid structures composed of amino and hydroxy acids. In the past decades numerous cyclodepsipeptides have been isolated and their potential as drugs has been studied extensively. For several cyclodepsipeptides total syntheses both in solution and on solid-phase have been established, allowing the production of combinatorial libraries. In addition, the biosynthesis of specific cyclodepsipeptides has been elucidated and used for the chemoenzymatic preparation of nonnatural analogues. This review summarizes the recent literature on cyclic tetra-to decadepsipeptides, composed exclusively of α-amino-and α-hydroxy acids.

A Chemical Study of Cyclic Depsipeptides Produced by a Sponge-Derived Fungus

Journal of Natural Products, 2006

Two novel cyclic depsipeptides, guangomides A (1) and B (2), together with a new destruxin derivative (3) were isolated from the cytotoxic extract obtained from the saltwater culture of an unidentified sponge-derived fungus. The new structures were elucidated based on analysis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR data sets, and the absolute configurations of 2S, 9S, 13S, 19S, 24R, 28R of 1 was determined based on the combined X-ray and Marfey's method structure analysis. Identical absolute configurations were assumed for 2. The cytotoxicity of the extract was found to be due to brefeldin A, while 1 and 2 showed weak antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Enterococcus durans.

Two Novel Hexadepsipeptides with Several Modified Amino Acid Residues Isolated from the FungusIsaria

Chemistry & Biodiversity, 2004

Two new cyclohexadepsipeptides have been isolated from the fungus Isaria. Fungal growth in solid media yielded hyphal strands from which peptide fractions were readily isolable by organic-solvent extraction. Two novel cyclodepsipeptides, isaridin A and isaridin B, have been isolated by reverse-phase HPLC, and characterized by ESI-MS and 1 H-NMR. Single crystals of both peptides have been obtained, and their 3D structures were elucidated by X-ray diffraction. The isaridins contain several unusual amino acid residues. The sequences are cyclo(b-Gly-HyLeu-Pro-Phe-NMeVal-NMePhe) and cyclo(b-Gly-HyLeu-b-MePro-Phe-NMeVal-NMePhe), where NMeVal is N-methylvaline, NMePhe N-methylphenylalanine, and HyLeu hydroxyleucine ( 2-hydroxy-4-methylpentanoic acid). The two peptides differ from one another at residue 3, isaridin A having an (S)-proline at this position, while b-methyl-(S)-proline ( (2S,3S)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-3-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2carboxylic acid) is found in isaridin B. The solid-state conformations of both cyclic depsipeptides are characterized by the presence of two cis peptide bonds at HyLeu(2)-Pro(3)/HyLeu(2)-b-MePro(3) and NMeVal(5)-NMePhe(6), respectively. In isaridin A, a strong intramolecular H-bond is observed between Phe(4)CO ¥¥¥ HNb-Gly(1), and a similar, but weaker, interaction is observed between b-Gly(1)CO ¥¥¥ HNPhe(4). In contrast, in isaridin B, only a single intramolecular H-bond is observed between b-Gly(1)CO ¥¥¥ HNPhe(4).

Total Synthesis of the Depsipeptide FR901375

Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2003

The first total synthesis of FR-901375, a novel bicyclic depsipeptide isolated from the fermentation broth of Pseudomonas chloroaphis No. 2522, has been achieved. The synthetic approach involves 13 reaction steps and is achieved in 12% overall yield. The key points in the successful synthetic strategy are a concise asymmetric synthesis of the key building block (3R,4E)-3-hydroxy-7-mercapto-4-heptenoic acid, a mild Mitsunobu macrolactonization step, and an I 2 -mediated deprotection with concomitant disulfide-bridge formation.

Aspergillus niger is a superior expression host for the production of bioactive fungal cyclodepsipeptides

Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, 2018

Background: Fungal cyclodepsipeptides (CDPs) are non-ribosomally synthesized peptides produced by a variety of filamentous fungi and are of interest to the pharmaceutical industry due to their anticancer, antimicrobial and anthelmintic bioactivities. However, both chemical synthesis and isolation of CDPs from their natural producers are limited due to high costs and comparatively low yields. These challenges might be overcome by heterologous expression of the respective CDP-synthesizing genes in a suitable fungal host. The well-established industrial fungus Aspergillus niger was recently genetically reprogrammed to overproduce the cyclodepsipeptide enniatin B in g/L scale, suggesting that it can generally serve as a high production strain for natural products such as CDPs. In this study, we thus aimed to determine whether other CDPs such as beauvericin and bassianolide can be produced with high titres in A. niger, and whether the generated expression strains can be used to synthesize new-to-nature CDP derivatives. Results: The beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases were expressed under control of the tuneable Tet-on promoter, and titres of about 350-600 mg/L for bassianolide and beauvericin were achieved when using optimized feeding conditions, respectively. These are the highest concentrations ever reported for both compounds, whether isolated from natural or heterologous expression systems. We also show that the newly established Tet-on based expression strains can be used to produce new-to-nature beauvericin derivatives by precursor directed biosynthesis, including the compounds 12-hydroxyvalerate-beauvericin and bromo-beauvericin. By feeding deuterated variants of one of the necessary precursors (d-hydroxyisovalerate), we were able to purify deuterated analogues of beauvericin and bassianolide from the respective A. niger expression strains. These deuterated compounds could potentially be used as internal standards in stable isotope dilution analyses to evaluate and quantify fungal spoilage of food and feed products. Conclusion: In this study, we show that the product portfolio of A. niger can be expanded from enniatin to other CDPs such as beauvericin and bassianolide, as well as derivatives thereof. This illustrates the capability of A. niger to produce a range of different peptide natural products in titres high enough to become industrially relevant.

Synthesis of sequential polydepsipeptides utilizing a new approach for the synthesis of depsipeptides

Biopolymers, 2004

Sequential polydepsipeptides were synthesized by the depsipeptide active ester method using a new approach for the direct synthesis of N-protected depsipeptide free acids from hydroxy acids. The method uses synthesis of Boc-didepsipeptides by reaction of free hydroxy acids with Boc-amino acid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters catalyzed by 4-dimethylaminopyridine and chain elongation of the free depsipeptides by the reaction with Boc-amino acid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters in an organic solvent system of acetonitrile-tetrahydrofuran. The Boc-depsipeptide free acids were activated as their N-hydroxysuccinimide esters, which were polymerized after removal of the Boc-protecting group.

The first total synthesis of the cyclodepsipeptide pipecolidepsin A

Nature Communications, 2013

Pipecolidepsin A is a head-to-side-chain cyclodepsipeptide isolated from the marine sponge Homophymia lamellosa. This compound shows relevant cytotoxic activity in three human tumour cell lines and has unique structural features, with an abundance of non-proteinogenic residues, including several intriguing amino acids. Although the moieties present in the structure show high synthetic difficulty, the cornerstone is constituted by the unprecedented and highly hindered g-branched b-hydroxy-a-amino acid D-allo-(2R,3R,4R)-2-amino-3hydroxy-4,5-dimethylhexanoic acid (AHDMHA) residue, placed at the branching ester position and surrounded by the four demanding residues L-(2S,3S,4R)-3,4-dimethylglutamine, (2R,3R,4S)-4,7-diamino-2,3-dihydroxy-7-oxoheptanoic acid, D-allo-Thr and L-pipecolic acid. Here we describe the first total synthesis of a D-allo-AHDMHA-containing peptide, pipecolidepsin A, thus allowing chemical structure validation of the natural product and providing a robust synthetic strategy to access other members of the relevant head-to-side-chain family in a straightforward manner.

Cyclic Lipodepsipeptides in Novel Antimicrobial Drug Discovery

Croatica Chemica Acta, 2011

Naturally occurring cyclic depsipeptides, microbial secondary metabolites that contain one or more ester bonds in addition to the amide bonds, have emerged as an important source of pharmacologically active compounds or promising lead structures for the development of novel synthetically derived drugs. In particular, their lipidated derivatives have shown the greatest therapeutic potential as antimicrobial agents. Some of those compounds are either already marketed (daptomycin 37) or in advanced stages of clinical development (ramoplanin 32) for the treatment of complicated infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacterial strains. As bacteria progressively become resistant to frontline antimicrobial agents, our capacity to effectively treat bacterial infections becomes severely hindered. Therefore, identifying novel antibacterial targets and new antibacterial chemotherapeutics capable of treating infections from drug-resistant microorganisms is of vital importance.