TMC-66, a new endothelin converting enzyme inhibitor produced by Streptomyces sp. A5008. (1/183)

A new endothelin converting enzyme (ECE) inhibitor, TMC-66 was isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces sp. A5008. The structure of TMC-66 was elucidated by spectroscopic analyses to be a new member of benzo[a]naphthacenequinone class of antibiotics. TMC-66 had a highly selective inhibitory activity for ECE with an IC50 value of 2.9 microM. Taxonomy of the producing strain is also described.  (+info)

The role of mdr1a P-glycoprotein in the biliary and intestinal secretion of doxorubicin and vinblastine in mice. (2/183)

Drug-transporting P-glycoproteins are abundantly present in the liver and the intestinal wall. We have now investigated their role in the biliary and intestinal secretion of the anticancer drugs doxorubicin (unlabeled: 5 mg/kg) and vinblastine ((3)H-labeled: 1 mg/kg) i.v. administered to wild-type and mdr1a P-glycoprotein knockout [mdr1a(-/-)] mice. At 90 min after drug administration, levels of unchanged drug and metabolites in plasma, intestinal contents, and bile were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and radioactivity by liquid scintillation counting. The bile of both wild-type and mdr1a(-/-) mice contained only minor amounts of unchanged vinblastine, whereas the total biliary secretion of unknown (3)H-labeled breakdown products was about 25 to 30% of the dose. The direct secretion of unchanged vinblastine through the gut wall was 6.7 and 3.3% of the dose in wild-type and mdr1a(-/-) mice, respectively. The biliary secretion of unchanged doxorubicin decreased from 13.3% of the dose to only 2.4% in the absence of mdr1a P-glycoprotein. Approximately 10% of the dose was secreted as unchanged doxorubicin into the intestinal contents of both types of mice. Thus, the absence of mdr1a P-glycoprotein affects the fate of vinblastine chiefly by diminishing secretion into the lumen of the small intestine, whereas it affects the fate of doxorubicin chiefly by diminishing secretion of parent drug into bile.  (+info)

Enhanced production of microbial metabolites in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide. (3/183)

Bacterial strains grown in the presence of low concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) exhibit significant qualitative and quantitative alterations in the production of secondary metabolites. This effect was confirmed for a variety of biosynthetic families, including chloramphenicol (chorismate), thiostrepton (peptide) and tetracenomycin (polyketide), and for natural and recombinant strains of streptomycetes; a similar effect was seen with antibiotic-producing bacilli such as B. circulans. Increase in antibiotic production was not the result of a change in the growth rate of these organisms, since yields of biomass were similar in media with and without DMSO (up to 3%). We suggest that the addition of compounds such as DMSO provides a means of examining the full biosynthetic potential of microbes and might be used to promote secondary metabolite production. The mode of action of DMSO is not known, but in the cases studied it may act at the level of translation.  (+info)

Identification of a sugar flexible glycosyltransferase from Streptomyces olivaceus, the producer of the antitumor polyketide elloramycin. (4/183)

BACKGROUND: Elloramycin is an anthracycline-like antitumor drug related to tetracenomycin C which is produced by Streptomyces olivaceus Tu2353. Structurally is a tetracyclic aromatic polyketide derived from the condensation of 10 acetate units. Its chromophoric aglycon is glycosylated with a permethylated L-rhamnose moiety at the C-8 hydroxy group. Only limited information is available about the genes involved in the biosynthesis of elloramycin. From a library of chromosomal DNA from S. olivaceus, a cosmid (16F4) was isolated that contains part of the elloramycin gene cluster and when expressed in Streptomyces lividans resulted in the production of a non-glycosylated intermediate in elloramycin biosynthesis, 8-demethyl-tetracenomycin C (8-DMTC). RESULTS: The expression of cosmid 16F4 in several producers of glycosylated antibiotics has been shown to produce tetracenomycin derivatives containing different 6-deoxysugars. Different experimental approaches showed that the glycosyltransferase gene involved in these glycosylation events was located in 16F4. Using degenerated oligoprimers derived from conserved amino acid sequences in glycosyltransferases, the gene encoding this sugar flexible glycosyltransferase (elmGT) has been identified. After expression of elmGT in Streptomyces albus under the control of the erythromycin resistance promoter, ermEp, it was shown that elmG can transfer different monosaccharides (both L- and D-sugars) and a disaccharide to 8-DMTC. Formation of a diolivosyl derivative in the mithramycin producer Streptomyces argillaceus was found to require the cooperative action of two mithramycin glycosyltransferases (MtmGI and MtmGII) responsible for the formation of the diolivosyl disaccharide, which is then transferred by ElmGT to 8-DMTC. CONCLUSIONS: The ElmGT glycosyltransferase from S. olivaceus Tu2353 can transfer different sugars into the aglycon 8-DMTC. In addition to its natural sugar substrate L-rhamnose, ElmGT can transfer several L- and D-sugars and also a diolivosyl disaccharide into the aglycon 8-DMTC. ElmGT is an example of sugar flexible glycosyltransferase and can represent an important tool for combinatorial biosynthesis.  (+info)

Deoxysugar methylation during biosynthesis of the antitumor polyketide elloramycin by Streptomyces olivaceus. Characterization of three methyltransferase genes. (5/183)

The anthracycline-like polyketide drug elloramycin is produced by Streptomyces olivaceus Tu2353. Elloramycin has antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and also exhibits antitumor activity. From a cosmid clone (cos16F4) containing part of the elloramycin biosynthesis gene cluster, three genes (elmMI, elmMII, and elmMIII) have been cloned. Sequence analysis and data base comparison showed that their deduced products resembled S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferases. The genes were individually expressed in Streptomyces albus and also coexpressed with genes involved in the biosynthesis of l-rhamnose, the 6-deoxysugar attached to the elloramycin aglycon. The resulting recombinant strains were used to biotransform three different elloramycin-type compounds: l-rhamnosyl-tetracenomycin C, l-olivosyl-tetracenomycin C, and l-oleandrosyl-tetracenomycin, which differ in their 2'-, 3'-, and 4'-substituents of the sugar moieties. When only the three methyltransferase-encoding genes elmMI, elmMII, and elmMIII were individually expressed in S. albus, the methylating activity of the three methyltransferases was also assayed in vitro using various externally added glycosylated substrates. From the combined results of all of these experiments, it is proposed that methyltransferases ElmMI, ElmMII, and ElmMIII are involved in the biosynthesis of the permethylated l-rhamnose moiety of elloramycin. ElmMI, ElmMII, and ElmMIII are responsible for the consecutive methylation of the hydroxy groups at the 2'-, 3'-, and 4'-position, respectively, after the sugar moiety has been attached to the aglycon.  (+info)

Effects of hibarimicins and hibarimicin-related compounds produced by Microbispora on v-Src kinase activity and growth and differentiation of human myeloid leukemia HL-60 cells. (6/183)

We studied the effects of hibarimicins and hibarimicin-related compounds produced by Microbispora rosea subsp. hibaria [glycosides (hibarimicins A, B, C, D, E, G, H and I) and aglycon (hibarimicinone)] or compounds produced by its mutants [glycosides (HMP-P4 and -Y6), aglycons (HMP-P1 and -Y1) and shunt products (HMP-M1, M2, M3 and -M4)] on v-Src tyrosine kinase and growth and differentiation of human myeloid leukemia HL-60 cells. Among them, hibarimicin B was a strong and the most selective v-Src kinase inhibitor with differentiation inducing activity of HL-60 cells. Hibarimicin E similarly induced HL-60 cell differentiation but had no v-Src kinase inhibitory activity. Hibarimicinone was the most potent v-Src kinase inhibitor, although less selective, and did not induce differentiation of HL-60 cells. Hibarimicin B competitively inhibited ATP binding to the v-Src kinase, but hibarimicinone showed noncompetitive inhibition. These two compounds, however, showed similar mixed types of inhibition against a Src substrate binding to the v-Src kinase. Altogether, these results suggest that signaling molecules other than Src might be more important in the differentiation induction of HL-60 cells.  (+info)

Expression, purification, and characterization of AknX anthrone oxygenase, which is involved in aklavinone biosynthesis in Streptomyces galilaeus. (7/183)

In streptomycete anthracycline biosynthetic gene clusters, small open reading frames are located just upstream of minimal polyketide synthase genes. aknX is such a gene found in the aklavinone-aclacinomycin biosynthetic gene cluster of Streptomyces galilaeus. In order to identify its function, the aknX gene was expressed in Escherichia coli. The cell extract prepared from E. coli cells overexpressing AknX protein exhibited anthrone oxygenase activity, which converted emodinanthrone to anthraquinone emodin. This indicates that AknX and related gene products such as DnrG and SnoaB are involved in the formation of aklanonic acid from its anthrone precursor, as suggested by their homology with TcmH and ActVA6. The AknX protein fused with a His(6) tag was efficiently purified to homogeneity by Ni(2+) affinity and anion-exchange column chromatography. The native molecular mass of AknX was estimated to be 42 kDa by gel filtration. Thus, native AknX is considered to have a homotrimeric subunit structure. AknX, like TcmH and ActVA6, possesses no apparent prosthetic group for oxygen activation. Site-directed mutagenesis was carried out to identify the key amino acid residue(s) involved in the oxygenation reaction. Of seven AknX mutants expressed, the W67F mutant showed significantly reduced oxygenase activity, suggesting the important role of the W67 residue in the AknX reaction. A possible mechanism for the reaction via peroxy anion intermediate is proposed.  (+info)

Cloning of aklavinone biosynthesis genes from Streptomyces galilaeus. (8/183)

Aklavinone is an aglycone of aclacinomycin A which is an important antitumor drug. Genes for the biosynthesis of aklavinone were cloned from Streptomyces galilaeus 3AR-33, an aklavinone-producing mutant, by use of the actI and actIII polyketide synthase gene probes. Restriction mapping and Southern analysis of the DNA cloned in a lambda phage vector established that the DNA represented three different regions of the S. galilaeus 3AR-33 genome that contained 3.4, 2.5, and 4.1 kb BamHI fragments which hybridized with actIII. Of those, only the 3.4 kb fragment also hybridized with actI. Complementation experiments with specifically blocked mutants confirmed that the cloned 3.4 kb BamHI fragment contains the genes required for the early stage of polyketide synthesis in aklavinone biosynthesis.  (+info)