We recently reported the cultivation and phylogenetic characterization of a new group of obligate marine actinomycete bacteria that is widely distributed in ocean sediments.[1] Analogous soil-derived actinomycetes have been the single most significant source of naturally occurring microbial antibiotics, [2] thus the discovery of a major new group of these bacteria in marine sediments suggests that the ocean represents an overlooked habitat from which to isolate these important microorganisms. Given that the rate of discovery of new biologically active compounds from common soil actinomycetes has been falling, [3] obligate marine actinomycetes represent a new resource for structurally diverse secondary metabolites.To date, we have isolated in excess of 2500 strains belonging to this new taxon for which we have proposed the genus name ™Salinospora∫ (a formal taxonomic description is in progress). ™Salinospora∫ strains, with previously undescribed 16S rRNA gene sequences, have been recovered from five distinct tropical/subtropical ocean systems [1] and from depths as great as À1100 m, which indicates that they represent a widely distributed and taxonomically diverse group of sediment bacteria. All isolates display an obligate requirement of ionic sodium for growth, thus indicating a high level of marine adaptation.In preliminary screening, a high percentage of the organic extracts of cultured ™Salinospora∫ strains possessed antibiotic and anticancer activities, which suggests that these bacteria are an excellent resource for drug discovery. Herein we report the results of our first chemical investigation of a member of the ™Salinospora∫ group and show that strain CNB-392 produces the chemically unique and highly bioactive metabolite salinosporamide A (1, Scheme 1). Salinosporamide A exhibits potent cancer cell cytotoxicity and appears to exert its cytotoxic effects through inhibition of the 20S proteasome.™Salinospora∫ strain CNB-392 was isolated from a heattreated marine sediment sample that was plated on a seawater-based agar nutrient medium. Liquid shake flask cultivation of this strain, followed by solid-phase extraction with Amberlite resin (XAD-16) and elution with acetone, resulted in a crude extract that was highly cytotoxic in vitro toward HCT-116 human colon carcinoma (IC 50 ca. 80 ng mL À1 ). Cytotoxicity-guided fractionation of the crude extract led to the isolation of salinosporamide A (1) as a colorless crystalline solid (yield: 7 mg L À1 ). The complete structural assignment of 1 was accomplished by spectral analysis and by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study.Analysis of the low-resolution mass spectrum of salinosporamide A showed a characteristic [Mþ2] þ peak indicative of the presence of a chlorine atom. High-resolution massspectral analysis provided the molecular formula Comprehensive analysis of 2D NMR data, including the results of COSY, HMQC, and HMBC experiments, enabled the complete planar structure of salinosporamide A to be assigned, as in 1, to a 2-aza-6-oxabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-3,7...

Starke und selektive Cytotoxizität gegenüber einer Reihe von Krebszelllinien kennzeichnen Salinosporamid A (1), das aus dem Rohextrakt eines einzigartigen marinen Aktinomyceten der Gattung Salinospora isoliert wurde.

We recently reported the cultivation and phylogenetic characterization of a new group of obligate marine actinomycete bacteria that is widely distributed in ocean sediments.[1] Analogous soil-derived actinomycetes have been the single most significant source of naturally occurring microbial antibiotics, [2] thus the discovery of a major new group of these bacteria in marine sediments suggests that the ocean represents an overlooked habitat from which to isolate these important microorganisms. Given that the rate of discovery of new biologically active compounds from common soil actinomycetes has been falling, [3] obligate marine actinomycetes represent a new resource for structurally diverse secondary metabolites.To date, we have isolated in excess of 2500 strains belonging to this new taxon for which we have proposed the genus name ™Salinospora∫ (a formal taxonomic description is in progress). ™Salinospora∫ strains, with previously undescribed 16S rRNA gene sequences, have been recovered from five distinct tropical/subtropical ocean systems [1] and from depths as great as À1100 m, which indicates that they represent a widely distributed and taxonomically diverse group of sediment bacteria. All isolates display an obligate requirement of ionic sodium for growth, thus indicating a high level of marine adaptation.In preliminary screening, a high percentage of the organic extracts of cultured ™Salinospora∫ strains possessed antibiotic and anticancer activities, which suggests that these bacteria are an excellent resource for drug discovery. Herein we report the results of our first chemical investigation of a member of the ™Salinospora∫ group and show that strain CNB-392 produces the chemically unique and highly bioactive metabolite salinosporamide A (1, Scheme 1). Salinosporamide A exhibits potent cancer cell cytotoxicity and appears to exert its cytotoxic effects through inhibition of the 20S proteasome.™Salinospora∫ strain CNB-392 was isolated from a heattreated marine sediment sample that was plated on a seawater-based agar nutrient medium. Liquid shake flask cultivation of this strain, followed by solid-phase extraction with Amberlite resin (XAD-16) and elution with acetone, resulted in a crude extract that was highly cytotoxic in vitro toward HCT-116 human colon carcinoma (IC 50 ca. 80 ng mL À1 ). Cytotoxicity-guided fractionation of the crude extract led to the isolation of salinosporamide A (1) as a colorless crystalline solid (yield: 7 mg L À1 ). The complete structural assignment of 1 was accomplished by spectral analysis and by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study.Analysis of the low-resolution mass spectrum of salinosporamide A showed a characteristic [Mþ2] þ peak indicative of the presence of a chlorine atom. High-resolution massspectral analysis provided the molecular formula Comprehensive analysis of 2D NMR data, including the results of COSY, HMQC, and HMBC experiments, enabled the complete planar structure of salinosporamide A to be assigned, as in 1, to a 2-aza-6-oxabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-3...

An extensive study of the secondary metabolites produced by the obligate marine actinomycete Salinispora tropica (strain CNB-392), the producing microbe of the potent proteasome inhibitor salinosporamide A (1), has led to the isolation of seven related gamma-lactams. The most important of these compounds were salinosporamide B (3), which is the deschloro-analogue of 1, and salinosporamide C (4), which is a decarboxylated pyrrole analogue. New SAR data for all eight compounds, derived from extensive testing against the human colon carcinoma HCT-116 and the 60-cell-line panel at the NCI, indicate that the chloroethyl moiety plays a major role in the enhanced activity of 1.