Molecular characterisation of avian Pasteurella multocida isolates from Australia and Vietnam by REP-PCR and PFGE.

A total of 95 isolates of Pasteurella multocida were analysed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using the enzyme ApaI, including 73 avian isolates from Australia and 22 from Vietnam. The majority of field isolates were capsular Type A, with the predominant somatic serovars of 1, 3, 4 and 3,4. Twenty-one distinct profiles were evident among the Australian isolates, with only 3 profiles observed among the 22 P. multocida strains isolated from Vietnam. Within the Australian isolates, related and unrelated outbreaks could be identified by PFGE. These results correlated well with previously published studies, with greater discrimination shown by PFGE. Repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence PCR (REP-PCR) analysis of representative isolates from PFGE classifications yielded 21 profiles, with most of the subgroups in accordance with PFGE analysis. While REP-PCR was shown to be less discriminating than PFGE, the epidemiological relatedness of strains compared favourably between the techniques. Thus, the ease and rapidity of REP-PCR while maintaining a high level of differentiation, supports the use of REP-PCR as a competent alternative to the more labour-intensive PFGE system for strain identification and epidemiological studies of avian P. multocida.

Mycolactone: a polyketide toxin from Mycobacterium ulcerans required for virulence.

Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a severe human skin disease that occurs primarily in Africa and Australia. Infection with M. ulcerans results in persistent severe necrosis without an acute inflammatory response. The presence of histopathological changes distant from the site of infection suggested that pathogenesis might be toxin mediated. A polyketide-derived macrolide designated mycolactone was isolated that causes cytopathicity and cell cycle arrest in cultured L929 murine fibroblasts. Intradermal inoculation of purified toxin into guinea pigs produced a lesion similar to that of Buruli ulcer in humans. This toxin may represent one of a family of virulence factors associated with pathology in mycobacterial diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis.

Ethyl-substituted erythromycin derivatives produced by directed metabolic engineering.

A previously unknown chemical structure, 6-desmethyl-6-ethylerythromycin A (6-ethylErA), was produced through directed genetic manipulation of the erythromycin (Er)-producing organism Saccharopolyspora erythraea. In an attempt to replace the methyl side chain at the C-6 position of the Er polyketide backbone with an ethyl moiety, the methylmalonate-specific acyltransferase (AT) domain of the Er polyketide synthase was replaced with an ethylmalonate-specific AT domain from the polyketide synthase involved in the synthesis of the 16-member macrolide niddamycin. The genetically altered strain was found to produce ErA, however, and not the ethyl-substituted derivative. When the strain was provided with precursors of ethylmalonate, a small quantity of a macrolide with the mass of 6-ethylErA was produced in addition to ErA. Because substrate for the heterologous AT seemed to be limiting, crotonyl-CoA reductase, a primary metabolic enzyme involved in butyryl-CoA production in streptomycetes, was expressed in the strain. The primary macrolide produced by the reengineered strain was 6-ethylErA.

Antifungal activity of meridine, a natural product from the marine sponge Corticium sp.

Meridine [1], a polycyclic alkaloid derived from the marine sponge Corticium sp., was found to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. Activity was also observed against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Epidermophyton floccosum. Studies of the mechanism of action of this agent have shown an inhibition of nucleic acid biosynthesis.

Antitumor activity and nucleic acid binding properties of dercitin, a new acridine alkaloid isolated from a marine Dercitus species sponge.

A new cytotoxic acridine alkaloid that exhibited antitumor activity in vivo was isolated from a marine Dercitus species sponge collected at a depth of 160 m in the Bahamas. This violet alkaloid, designated dercitin, inhibited the proliferation of cultured murine and human leukemia, lung, and colon tumor cells at nM concentrations (IC50 values of 63-150 nM) and prolonged the life of mice bearing ascitic P388 tumors (%T/C = 170, 5 mg/kg, i.p., QD1-9). Dercitin was also active against i.p. B16 melanoma and modestly inhibited the growth of s.c. Lewis lung carcinoma on the same schedule. DNA blocked the antiproliferative effects of the agent in culture, and incorporation studies indicated that dercitin disrupted DNA and RNA synthesis with less effects on protein synthesis, similar to the effects of known DNA intercalators. After 1-h exposure to 400 nM dercitin, the rates of incorporation of [3H]uridine, [3H]thymidine, and [3H]leucine by cultured P388 cells were inhibited 83, 61, and 23%, respectively. Equilibrium dialysis indicated that dercitin bound calf thymus DNA with an affinity of 3.1 microM and maximal binding of 0.20 mol dercitin/mol base pair. Binding involved intercalation as evidenced by ability to relax supercoiled phi X174 DNA (half maximal concentration for dercitin relaxation was 36 nM). The effects of dercitin on DNA mobility were reversible, and complete relaxation of DNA with topoisomerase I in the presence of dercitin followed by phenol extraction resulted in the appearance of supercoiled DNA. Dercitin, at microM concentrations, had a small effect in the K+-sodium dodecyl sulfate assay using cultured P388 cells, suggesting minimal inhibition of topoisomerase activity. But, dercitin completely inhibited DNA polymerase I/DNase nick translation of DNA at 1 microM. Relaxation of DNA at a given concentration was greater than inhibition of nick translation suggesting that the effects of dercitin on enzyme activity were secondary to changes in DNA conformation. Results indicate that dercitin is a new marine natural product that probably exerts its biological effects through intercalation into nucleic acids.