Leslie Gunatilaka

Abstract:

Two new taxane diterpenoids, 2-deacetoxy-7,9-dideacetyltaxinine J (1) and 2-deacetoxytaxinine B (3), were isolated from the barks of Taxus chinensis. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.

Abstract:

Aim: To isolate and characterize solid tumor inhibitory and other constituents from a bioactive extract of Casimiroa tetrameria ((Rutaceae). Methods: A crude extract of C. tetrameria obtained from the US National Cancer Institute Natural Product Repository and found to exhibit selective toxicity to solid tumor cells was subjected bioactivity-guided fractionation involving solvent-solvent partitioning, gel filtration, and chromatography. The structures of all isolated compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis (NMR and MS) and/or by comparison with the reported data. Compounds 1 and 4-9 were evaluated for their solid tumor selective cytotoxicity. Results: Nine metabolites, including a new furanocoumarin, 5-methoxy-8-(4'-acetoxy-3'-methylbut-2-enyloxy)-psoralen (1), and the previously known compounds 2-9 were encountered. Of these the flavonoid zapotin (6), and N-benzoyltyramide derivatives 7 and 8 were found to be the active constituents. Conclusion: Zapotin (6) is the most potent constituent of C. tetrameria with solid tumor selectivity. © 2011 China Pharmaceutical University.

Combinatorial biosynthesis aspires to exploit the promiscuity of microbial anabolic pathways to engineer the synthesis of new chemical entities. Fungal benzenediol lactone (BDL) polyketides are important pharmacophores with wide-ranging bioactivities, including heat shock response and immune system modulatory effects. Their biosynthesis on a pair of sequentially acting iterative polyketide synthases (iPKSs) offers a test case for the modularization of secondary metabolic pathways into "build-couple-pair" combinatorial synthetic schemes. Expression of random pairs of iPKS subunits from four BDL model systems in a yeast heterologous host created a diverse library of BDL congeners, including a polyketide with an unnatural skeleton and heat shock response-inducing activity. Pairwise heterocombinations of the iPKS subunits also helped to illuminate the innate, idiosyncratic programming of these enzymes. Even in combinatorial contexts, these biosynthetic programs remained largely unchanged, so that the iPKSs built their cognate biosynthons, coupled these building blocks into chimeric polyketide intermediates, and catalyzed intramolecular pairing to release macrocycles or α-pyrones. However, some heterocombinations also provoked stuttering, i.e., the relaxation of iPKSs chain length control to assemble larger homologous products. The success of such a plug and play approach to biosynthesize novel chemical diversity bodes well for bioprospecting unnatural polyketides for drug discovery.

PMID: 23859777;Abstract:

Recent studies have shown that novobiocin (NB), a member of the coumermycin (CA) family of antibiotics with demonstrated DNA gyrase inhibitory activity, inhibits Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) by binding weakly to a putative ATP-binding site within its C-terminus. To develop more potent HSP90 inhibitors that target this site and to define structure-activity relationships (SARs) for this class of compounds, we have synthesized twenty seven 3-amido-7- noviosylcoumarin analogues starting from NB and CA. These were evaluated for evidence of HSP90 inhibition using several biological assays including inhibition of cell proliferation and cell cycle arrest, induction of the heat shock response, inhibition of luciferase-refolding in vitro, and depletion of the HSP90 client protein c-erbB-2/HER-2/neu (HER2). This SAR study revealed that a substantial increase in biological activity can be achieved by introduction of an indole-2-carboxamide group in place of 4-hydroxy-isopentylbenzamido group at C-3 of NB in addition to removal/derivatization of the 4-hydroxyl group from the coumarin ring. Methylation of the 4-hydroxyl group in the coumarin moiety moderately increased biological activity as shown by compounds 11 and 13. Our most potent new analogue 19 demonstrated biological activities consistent with known HSP90-binding agents, but with greater potency than NB. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To understand the relationship between the structure and the remarkably diverse bioactivities reported for withanolides, we obtained withaferin A (WA; 1) and 36 analogues (2-37) and compared their cytotoxicity to cytoprotective heat-shock-inducing activity (HSA). By analyzing structure-activity relationships for the series, we found that the ring A enone is essential for both bioactivities. Acetylation of 27-OH of 4-epi-WA (28) to 33 enhanced both activities, whereas introduction of β-OH to WA at C-12 (29) and C-15 (30) decreased both activities. Introduction of β-OAc to 4,27-diacetyl-WA (16) at C-15 (37) decreased HSA without affecting cytotoxicity, but at C-12 (36), it had minimal effect. Importantly, acetylation of 27-OH, yielding 15 from 1, 16 from 14, and 35 from 34, enhanced HSA without increasing cytotoxicity. Our findings demonstrate that the withanolide scaffold can be modified to enhance HSA selectively, thereby assisting development of natural product-inspired drugs to combat protein aggregation-associated diseases by stimulating cellular defense mechanisms.