Bioactive natural products from novel microbial sources

Abstract

Despite the importance of microbial natural products for human health, only a few bacterial genera have been mined for the new natural products needed to overcome the urgent threat of antibiotic resistance. This is surprising, given that genome sequencing projects have revealed that the capability to produce natural products is not a rare feature among bacteria. Even the bacteria occurring in the human microbiome produce potent antibiotics, and thus potentially are an untapped resource for novel compounds, potentially with new activities. This review highlights examples of bacteria that should be considered new sources of natural products, including anaerobes, pathogens, and symbionts of humans, insects, and nematodes. Exploitation of these producer strains, combined with advances in modern natural product research methodology, has the potential to open the way for a new golden age of microbial therapeutics.

Genome mining unearths a hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase-like-pteridine synthase biosynthetic gene cluster

“…P. luminescens produces an assortment of bioactive molecules and antibiotics to regulate its mutualistic and pathogenic interactions (Vizcaino et al, 2014b; Challinor and Bode, 2015). Consequently, this genus, which includes one human pathogen, rivals the Streptomyces genus in terms of the number of secondary metabolic pathways in a given genome (Duchaud et al, 2003; Tobias et al, 2016).…”

Genome mining unveils widespread natural product biosynthetic capacity in human oral microbe Streptococcus mutans

“…Recent human microbiome research has not only highlighted the importance of the human microbiome to health, but has also revealed a new scientific frontier of deciphering the precise chemical language of communication among and between microbes and the human host44454647. Because secondary metabolites frequently exhibit antimicrobial and signaling activities, characterization of compounds from human commensal or pathogenic microbes can enlighten our understanding of the host-microbe relationship.…”

Natural products as mediators of disease

“…4 The complexity of the chemical interactions between the host and its resident microbiota requires the development of new approaches and tools for use by a truly interdisciplinary community. Every facet of natural product research (including discovery, comparative genomics analyses, unraveling biosynthetic pathways, characterizing biological function, etc.)…”