During a global research expedition, more than five hundred marine bacterial strains capable of inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria were collected. The purpose of the present study was to determine if these marine bacteria are also a source of compounds that interfere with the agr quorum sensing system that controls virulence gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus. Using a gene reporter fusion bioassay, we recorded agr interference as enhanced expression of spa, encoding Protein A, concomitantly with reduced expression of hla, encoding α-hemolysin, and rnaIII encoding RNAIII, the effector molecule of agr. A marine Photobacterium produced compounds interfering with agr in S. aureus strain 8325-4, and bioassay-guided fractionation of crude extracts led to the isolation of two novel cyclodepsipeptides, designated solonamide A and B. Northern blot analysis confirmed the agr interfering activity of pure solonamides in both S. aureus strain 8325-4 and the highly virulent, community-acquired strain USA300 (CA-MRSA). To our knowledge, this is the first report of inhibitors of the agr system by a marine bacterium.

This paper describes the discovery of novel α-L-fucosidases and evaluation of their potential to catalyse the transglycosylation reaction leading to production of fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides. Seven novel α-L-fucosidase-encoding genes were identified by functional screening of a soil-derived metagenome library and expressed in E. coli as recombinant 6xHis-tagged proteins. All seven fucosidases belong to glycosyl hydrolase family 29 (GH 29). Six of the seven α-L-fucosidases were substrate-inhibited, moderately thermostable and most hydrolytically active in the pH range 6–7, when tested with para-nitrophenyl-α-L-fucopyranoside (pNP-Fuc) as the substrate. In contrast, one fucosidase (Mfuc6) exhibited a high pH optimum and an unusual sigmoidal kinetics towards pNP-Fuc substrate. When tested for trans-fucosylation activity using pNP-Fuc as donor, most of the enzymes were able to transfer fucose to pNP-Fuc (self-condensation) or to lactose. With the α-L-fucosidase from Thermotoga maritima and the metagenome-derived Mfuc5, different fucosyllactose variants including the principal fucosylated HMO 2’-fucosyllactose were synthesised in yields of up to ~6.4%. Mfuc5 was able to release fucose from xyloglucan and could also use it as a fucosyl-donor for synthesis of fucosyllactose. This is the first study describing the use of glycosyl hydrolases for the synthesis of genuine fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides.

Thioviridamide is a structurally unique ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide that contains several thioamide bonds and is active against a number of cancer cell lines. In the search for naturally occurring thioviridamide analogs, we employed genome mining that led to the identification of several related gene clusters. Chemical screening followed by cultivation and isolation yielded thioholgamides A and B, two new additions to the thioviridamide family with several amino acid substitutions, a different N-capping moiety, and with one less thioamide bond. Thioholgamides display improved cytotoxicity in the submicromolar range against a range of cell lines and an IC of 30 nM for thioholgamide A against HCT-116 cells. Herein, we report the isolation and structural elucidation of thioholgamides A and B, a proposed biosynthetic cluster for their production, and their bioactivities against a larger panel of microorganisms and cancer cell lines.

Background: Eremophila R.Br. (Scrophulariaceae) is a diverse genus of plants with species distributed across semi-arid and arid Australia. It is an ecologically important genus that also holds cultural significance for many Indigenous Australians who traditionally use several species as sources of medicines. Structurally unusual diterpenoids, particularly serrulatane and viscidane-types, feature prominently in the chemical profile of many species and recent studies indicate that these compounds are responsible for much of the reported bioactivity. We have investigated the biosynthesis of diterpenoids in three species: Eremophila lucida, Eremophila drummondii and Eremophila denticulata subsp. trisulcata. Results: In all studied species diterpenoids were localised to the leaf surface and associated with the occurrence of glandular trichomes. Trichome-enriched transcriptome databases were generated and mined for candidate terpene synthases (TPS). Four TPSs with diterpene biosynthesis activity were identified: ElTPS31 and ElTPS3 from E. lucida were found to produce (3Z,7Z,11Z)-cembratrien-15-ol and 5-hydroxyviscidane, respectively, and EdTPS22 and EdtTPS4, from E. drummondii and E. denticulata subsp. trisulcata, respectively, were found to produce 8,9-dihydroserrulat-14-ene which readily aromatized to serrulat-14-ene. In all cases, the identified TPSs used the cisoid substrate, nerylneryl diphosphate (NNPP), to form the observed products. Subsequently, cis-prenyl transferases (CPTs) capable of making NNPP were identified in each species. Conclusions: We have elucidated two biosynthetic steps towards three of the major diterpene backbones found in this genus. Serrulatane and viscidane-type diterpenoids are promising candidates for new drug leads. The identification of an enzymatic route to their synthesis opens up the possibility of biotechnological production, making accessible a ready source of scaffolds for further modification and bioactivity testing.

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During our search for new natural products from the marine environment, we discovered a wide range of cyclic peptides from a marine Photobacterium, closely related to P. halotolerans. The chemical fingerprint of the bacterium showed primarily non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-like compounds, including the known pyrrothine antibiotic holomycin and a wide range of peptides, from diketopiperazines to cyclodepsipeptides of 500–900 Da. Purification of components from the pellet fraction led to the isolation and structure elucidation of four new cyclodepsipeptides, ngercheumicin F, G, H, and I. The ngercheumicins interfered with expression of virulence genes known to be controlled by the agr quorum sensing system of Staphylococcus aureus, although to a lesser extent than the previously described solonamides from the same strain of Photobacterium.

The diterpenoid triepoxides triptolide and triptonide from Tripterygium wilfordii (thunder god wine) exhibit unique bioactivities with potential uses in disease treatment and as a non-hormonal male contraceptives. Here, we show that cytochrome P450s (CYPs) from the CYP71BE subfamily catalyze an unprecedented 18(4→3) methyl shift required for biosynthesis of the abeo-abietane core structure present in diterpenoid triepoxides and in several other plant diterpenoids. In combination with two CYPs of the CYP82D subfamily, four CYPs from T. wilfordii are shown to constitute the minimal set of biosynthetic genes that enables triptonide biosynthesis using Nicotiana benthamiana and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as heterologous hosts. In addition, co-expression of a specific T. wilfordii cytochrome b5 (Twcytb5-A) increases triptonide output more than 9-fold in S. cerevisiae and affords isolation and structure elucidation by NMR spectroscopic analyses of 18 diterpenoids, providing insights into the biosynthesis of diterpenoid triepoxides. Our findings pave the way for diterpenoid triepoxide production via fermentation.