Atranones and dolabellanes with cardiomyocyte protective activity against cold ischemic injury from a coral-associated fungus Stachybotrys chartarum.

Five undescribed atranones, namely atranones V-Z (1-5), three undescribed dolabellane-type diterpenoids, namely stachatranones D-F (7-9), together with four known congeners (6 and 10-12), were obtained from a coral-associated strain of the toxigenic fungus Stachybotrys chartarum. Their structures were elucidated via extensive spectroscopic analyses, mainly including the HRESIMS and NMR data, single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, electronic circular dichroism calculation, and [Mo2(OAc)4] induced circular dichroism spectrum. The cardiomyocyte protective activity assay revealed that compound 9 significantly ameliorated cold ischemic injury at 24 h post cold ischemia (CI) in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, compound 9 prevented CI induced dephosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and RAC-α serine/threonine-protein kinase at 12 h post CI in a dose-dependent manner. In this work, the undescribed compound 9 could significantly protect cardiomyocytes against cold ischemic injury, highlighting the promising potential to be designed and developed as a novel cardioprotectant in heart transplant medicine.

Discovery of novel natural cardiomyocyte protectants from a toxigenic fungus Stachybotrys chartarum.

Stachybatranones A-F (1a/1b and 2-6) and three known analogues, namely methylatranones A and B (7 and 8) and atranone B (9), were isolated and identified from a toxigenic fungus Stachybotrys chartarum. Their structures and absolute configurations were elucidated via the extensive spectroscopic data, comparison of the experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Structurally, compounds 2-6 belonged to a rare class of C-alkylated dolabellanes, featuring a unique five-membered hemiketal ring and a γ-butyrolactone moiety both fused to an 11-membered carbocyclic system, while compound 1 (1a/1b) represented the first example of a 5-11-6-fused atranone possessing a 2,3-butanediol moiety. The cardiomyocyte protective activity assay revealed that compounds 1-9 ameliorated cold ischemic injury at 24 h post cold ischemia (CI), with compounds 1 and 4 acting in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, compound 1 prevented cold ischemia induced dephosphorylation of PI3K and AKT acting in a dose-dependent manner. In this study, a new class of natural products were found to protect cardiomyocytes against cold ischemic injury, providing a potential option for the development of novel cardioprotectants in heart transplant medicine.

Chaetoxylariones A-G: undescribed chromone-derived polyketides from co-culture of Chaetomium virescens and Xylaria grammica enabled via the molecular networking strategy.

By co-culturing two endophytic fungi (Chaetomium virescens and Xylaria grammica) collected from the medicinal and edible plant Smilax glabra Roxb. and analyzing them with MolNetEnhancer module on GNPS platform, seven undescribed chromone-derived polyketides (chaetoxylariones A-G), including three pairs of enantiomer ones (2a/2b, 4a/4b and 6a/6b) and four optical pure ones (1, 3, 5 and 7), as well as five known structural analogues (8-12), were obtained. The structures of these new compounds were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, 13C NMR calculation and DP4+ probability analyses, as well as the comparison of the experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data. Structurally, compound 1 featured an unprecedented chromone-derived sulfonamide tailored by two isoleucine-derived δ-hydroxy-3-methylpentenoic acids via the acylamide and NO bonds, respectively; compound 2 represented the first example of enantiomeric chromone derivative bearing a unique spiro-[3.3]alkane ring system; compound 3 featured a decane alkyl side chain that formed an undescribed five-membered lactone ring between C-7' and C-10'; compound 4 contained an unexpected highly oxidized five-membered carbocyclic system featuring rare adjacent keto groups; compound 7 featured a rare methylsulfonyl moiety. In addition, compound 10 showed a significant inhibition towards SW620/AD300 cells with an IC50 value of PTX significantly decreased from 4.09 µM to 120 nM, and a further study uncovered that compound 10 could obviously reverse the MDR of SW620/AD300 cells.

Libertellenone C attenuates oxidative stress and neuroinflammation with the capacity of NLRP3 inhibition.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are common chronic diseases arising from progressive damage to the nervous system. Here, in-house natural product database screening revealed that libertellenone C (LC) obtained from the fermentation products of Arthrinium arundinis separated from the gut of a centipede collected in our Tongji campus, showed a remarkable neuroprotective effect. Further investigation was conducted to clarify the specific mechanism. LC dose-dependently reversed glutamate-induced decreased viability, accumulated reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial membrane potential loss, and apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. Network pharmacology analysis predicted that the targets of LC were most likely directly related to oxidative stress and the regulation of inflammatory factor-associated signaling pathways. Further study demonstrated that LC attenuated nitrite, TNF-α, and IL-1ß production and decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase expression in lipopolysaccharide-induced BV-2 cells. LC could directly inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome activation by decreasing the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, cleaved Caspase-1, and NF-κB p65. Our results provide a new understanding of how LC inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome in microglia, providing neuroprotection. These findings might guide the development of effective LC-based therapeutic strategies for NDs.

Dipeniroqueforins A-B and Peniroqueforin D: Eremophilane-Type Sesquiterpenoid Derivatives with Cytotoxic Activity from Penicillium roqueforti.

Guided by the Global Natural Products Social (GNPS) molecular networking strategy, five undescribed eremophilane-type sesquiterpenoid derivatives (1-5) were isolated and identified from fungus Penicillium roqueforti, which was separated from the root soil of plant Hypericum beanii collected in Shennongjia Forestry District, Hubei Province. Dipeniroqueforins A-B (1-2), representing a lactam-type sesquiterpenoid skeleton with a highly symmetrical and homodimeric 5/6/6-6/6/5 hexacyclic system, are reported within the eremophilane-type family for the first time. Peniroqueforin D (5) represents the first example of a 1,2-seco eremophilane-type sesquiterpenoid derivative featuring an undescribed 7/6-fused ring system. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by various spectroscopic analyses, DP4+ probability analyses, ECD calculations, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. Furthermore, these isolates were evaluated for cytotoxicity, and the result uncovered that compound 1 displayed broad-spectrum activity. Further mechanistic study revealed that compound 1 could significantly upregulate the mRNA expression of genes related to the oxidative induction, leading to the abnormal ROS levels in tumor cells and ultimately causing tumor cell apoptosis.

Three new amide derivatives from the fungus Alternaria brassicicola.

Three new amide derivatives (alteralkaloids A-C, 1-3) and three known alkaloids (4-6) were afforded after phytochemical investigation of fungus Alternaria brassicicola. The structures of these compounds were confirmed by NMR spectroscopic and HRESIMS data. Furthermore, the absolute configuration of 1 was determined using the single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 1-3 belong to a class of amide derivatives that have not been found in nature before, sharing the same characteristic signals of the butyl moiety and amide group. These isolated compounds mentioned above were tested for the cytotoxic activity.

Discovery of two ent-atisane diterpenoid lactones with AChE inhibitory activity from the roots of Euphorbia fischeriana.

Euphorlactone A (1), a rare rearranged ent-atisane norditerpenoid with an undescribed 3-nor-2,4-olide-ent-atisane scaffold, and euphorlactone B (2), a new ent-atisane diterpenoid with an unprecedented seven-membered lactone ring C, were isolated from the roots of Euphorbia fischeriana. Their planar structures with absolute configurations were extensively elucidated by analysis of 1D and 2D NMR data, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, Rh2(OCOCF3)4-induced ECD curves, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Euphorlactone A (ELA) showed a remarkable AChE (acetylcholinesterase) inhibitory activity (IC50 = 2.13 ± 0.06 µM and Ki = 0.058 µM), which was five times stronger than that of the positive control (rivastigmine, IC50 = 12.46 ± 0.82 µM), and further in vitro enzyme inhibition kinetic analysis and molecular docking studies were performed to investigate the AChE inhibitory mechanism.

Polyketides with Anti-Inflammatory Activity from Trichoderma koningiopsis, a Rhizosphere Fungus from the Medicinal Plant Polygonum paleaceum.

Twelve new fungal polyketides, koningiopisins I-P (1-8) and trichoketides C-F (9-12), together with six known congeners (13-18), were isolated from Trichoderma koningiopsis, a rhizosphere fungus obtained from the medicinal plant Polygonum paleaceum. Their structures and absolute configurations were established by spectroscopic analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, the modified Mosher's method, chemical derivatization, the octant rule, and 13C NMR and ECD calculations. Compounds 1-5 are tricyclic polyketides possessing an octahydrochromene framework with a 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane core. Compounds 7 and 8 contain a unique ketone carbonyl group at C-7 and differ from other members of this group of compounds with the ketone carbonyl group at C-1. Compounds 1, 2, and 13 showed inhibitory activity on LPS-induced BV-2 cells on NO production with IC50 values of 14 ± 1, 3.0 ± 0.5, and 8.9 ± 2.7 µM, respectively.

Platelet membrane-coated alterbrassicene A nanoparticle inhibits calcification of the aortic valve by suppressing phosphorylation P65 NF-κB.

Rationale: Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity with increasing prevalence and incidence. The pathobiology of CAVD involves valvular fibrocalcification, and osteogenic and fibrogenic activities are elevated in aortic valve interstitial cells (VICs) from diseased valves. It has been demonstrated that activated NF-κB pathway was present in the early stage of CAVD process. There is currently no effective clinical drugs targeting NF-κB pathway for CAVD treatment. Therefore, it is of great clinical significance to seek effective treatments for valve calcification. Methods: In this study, we established immortal human valve interstitial cells (im-hVICs) with pGMLV-SV40T-puro lentivirus. Alizarin red staining and western blotting were performed to evaluate the calcification of immortal VICs supplemented with different compounds. The natural fusicoccane diterpenoid alterbrassicene A (ABA) was found to have potential therapeutic functions. Ribonucleic acid sequencing was used to identify the potential target of ABA. Platelet membrane-coated nanoparticle of ABA (PNP-ABA) was fabricated and the IBIDI pump was used to evaluate the adhesion ability of PNP-ABA. Murine wire-induced aortic valve stenosis model was conducted for in vivo study of PNP-ABA. Results: The natural fusicoccane diterpenoid ABA was found to significantly reduce the calcification of human VICs during osteogenic induction via inhibiting the phosphorylation P65. Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) were down regulated with the treatment of ABA in human VICs. Additionally, molecular docking results revealed that ABA bound to RelA (P65) protein. Phosphorylation of P65 (Ser536) was alleviated by ABA treatment, as well as the nuclear translocation of P65 during osteogenic induction in human VICs. Alizarin red staining showed that ABA inhibited osteogenic differentiation of VICs in a dose-dependent manner. PNP-ABA attenuated aortic valve calcification in murine wire-induced aortic valve stenosis model in vivo. Conclusions: The establishment of im-hVICs provides a convenient cell line for the study of CAVD. Moreover, our current research highlights a novel natural compound, ABA, as a promising candidate to prevent the progression of CAVD.

New secondary metabolites with cytotoxicity from fungus Penicillium roqueforti.

Two novel compounds including a cyclohelminthol type polyketide (namely oxaleimide K, 1) and a maleimide derivative (namely peniroquefortine A, 2), and a new natural product (namely 2-(acetylamino)-N-[(1E)-2-phenylethenyl]-acetamide, 3), together with four known compounds (4-7), were isolated and identified from fungus Penicillium roqueforti, which was separated from the root soil of Hypericum beanii N. Robson collected from the Shennongjia Forestry District, Hubei Province. Their structures including absolute configurations were mainly established by the NMR spectroscopy analyses and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiment. Compound 1 represents the second example of a cyclohelminthol type polyketide, which features a rare 6/6/5/5 tetracyclic system and a branched aliphatic chain containing a terminal olefin (oct-1-en-3-yl) moiety, and compound 2 possesses an unprecedented carbon skeleton that is uniquely defined by a maleimide moiety linked to the respective 4-methylene-2-(3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl)-phenol and para-substituted aromatic moieties via the carbon-carbon bonds. Remarkably, the absolute configuration of a cyclohelminthol type polyketide as exemplified by compound 1 is determined by the single-crystal diffraction analysis for the first time, highlighting an E-configuration for the linkage of a succinimide moiety and a tetrahydrofuran moiety for 1 rather than a Z-configuration as previously reported in the biosynthesis study, which gives a new insight into the structural elucidation of this category of polyketides. Additionally, compound 1 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against multiple tumor cells, especially against the Farage and SU-DHL-2 cells (IC50 < 20 µM, 48 h). Further mechanism study revealed that compound 1 significantly induced cell cycle arrest in Farage and SU-DHL-2 cells by causing abnormal ROS level and triggering oxidative stress.

Ten undescribed eremophilane and guaiane sesquiterpenes from Penicillium roqueforti.

Nine undescribed eremophilane sesquiterpenes, one undescribed guaiane sesquiterpene, along with ten known analogues were isolated and identified from fungus Penicillium roqueforti, which was separated from the root soil of Hypericum beanii N. Robson collected from the Shennongjia Forestry District, Hubei Province. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of various spectroscopic analyses, mainly including NMR and HRESIMS data, 13C NMR calculations with DP4+ probability analyses, ECD calculations, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. Furthermore, all twenty compounds were evaluated for the in vitro cytotoxic activities against seven human tumor cell lines, and the result suggested that 14-hydroxymethylene-1(10)-ene-epi-guaidiol A exhibited considerable cytotoxic activity against the Farage (IC50 < 10 µM, 48 h), SU-DHL-2, and HL-60 cells. Further mechanism study demonstrated that 14-hydroxymethylene-1(10)-ene-epi-guaidiol A could significantly promote apoptosis by inhibiting tumor cell respiration and decreasing intracellular ROS levels, thereby inducing S-phase blockade in tumor cells.

Indoloquinazoline alkaloids with cardiomyocyte protective activity against cold ischemic injury from Aspergillus clavatonanicus.

The arthropod-associated fungi have been demonstrated to be a remarkable producer of structurally captivating and bioactive secondary metabolites for drug discovery. In this study, eleven new indoloquinazoline alkaloids, namely aspergilloids A-K (1-11), along with five known congeners (12-16), were obtained from fungus Aspergillus clavatonanicus, which was isolated from the gut of a centipede collected in our Tongji campus. All these compounds were rarely defined by a 6/5/5 indolone ring system in conjugation with a five-membered spiral ring (1-5 and 10-16) or an opening five-membered spiral ring (6-9). Their structures were elucidated by widespread spectroscopic analyses, mainly including HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR data, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data analyses. The cardiomyocyte protective activity assay revealed that compounds 1, 2, 5, 12-14, and 16 ameliorated cold ischemic injury at 48 h post cold ischemia (CI), and compounds 1, 5, and 14 prevented cold ischemia induced Ser9 dephosphorylation of GSK3ß at 12 h post CI. Our current study highlights indoloquinazoline alkaloids as the first class of natural cardiomyocyte protective agents against cold ischemic injury, which furnishes promising lead molecules for the development of new cardioprotectants in heart transplantation medicine.

A new diketopiperazine-type alkaloid from the endophytic fungus Penicillium expansum.

A chemical investigation on an endophytic fungus Penicillium expansum isolated from the medicinal plant Plantago depressa Willd. (Plantaginaceae) afforded one new diketopiperazine-type alkaloid, namely penicimine A (1), as well as two known congeners (2 and 3). Their structures were elucidated by widespread spectroscopic data, and the absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were further confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Compound 1 represented the first example of benzyl-containing diketopiperazine-type alkaloid bearing a methyl group attached at C-15 position. Compound 1 showed anti-inflammatory activity against LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 mouse macrophages with an IC50 value of 25.65 µM.

Two new lanostane-type triterpenoids from the fungus Periconia sp. TJ403-rc01.

The endophytic fungus Periconia sp. TJ403-rc01 (Dematiaceae) isolated from the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. (Rosaceae) was cultivated on rice medium and chemically investigated, affording two new lanostane-type triterpenoids, namely pericinones A and B (1 and 2). Their structures were determined mainly by 1 D and 2 D NMR and HRESIMS data. Notably, it is the first report of lanostane-type triterpenoids from species of Periconia. Compounds 1 and 2 showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity against the NO production with IC50 values of 24.12 ± 0.73 and 11.38 ± 1.56 µM, respectively.

Armochaetoglasins L and M, new cytochalasans from an arthropod-derived fungus Chaetomium globosum.

Armochaetoglasins L (1) and M (2), two new cytochalasans, were isolated from the EtOAc extract of an arthropod-derived fungus Chaetomium globosum. Armochaetoglasin L (1) is a rare 19,20-seco-chaetoglobosin. Their structures were elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and comparison of their electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity against the NO production by using LPS-stimulated murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells and antibacterial activity against three drug-resistant microbial pathogens.

Hierarchical Context-Based Emotion Recognition With Scene Graphs.

For a better intention inference, we often try to figure out the emotional states of other people in social communications. Many studies on affective computing have been carried out to infer emotions through perceiving human states, i.e., facial expression and body posture. Such methods are skillful in a controlled environment. However, it often leads to misestimation due to the deficiency of effective inputs in unconstrained circumstances, that is, where context-aware emotion recognition appeared. We take inspiration from the advanced reasoning pattern of humans in perceived emotion recognition and propose the hierarchical context-based emotion recognition method with scene graphs. We propose to extract three contexts from the image, i.e., the entity context, the global context, and the scene context. The scene context contains abstract information about entity labels and their relationships. It is similar to the information processing of the human visual sensing mechanism. After that, these contexts are further fused to perform emotion recognition. We carried out a bunch of experiments on the widely used context-aware emotion datasets, i.e., CAER-S, EMOTIC, and BOdy Language Dataset (BoLD). We demonstrate that the hierarchical contexts can benefit emotion recognition by improving the accuracy of the SOTA score from 84.82% to 90.83% on CAER-S. The ablation experiments show that hierarchical contexts provide complementary information. Our method improves the F1 score of the SOTA result from 29.33% to 30.24% (C-F1) on EMOTIC. We also build the image-based emotion recognition task with BoLD-Img from BoLD and obtain a better emotion recognition score (ERS) score of 0.2153.

Drimane sesquiterpenoids from a wetland soil-derived fungus Aspergillus calidoustus TJ403-EL05.

Soil-derived fungi represent an insufficiently tapped reservoir for discovering new and bioactive natural products (NPs), and despite an ever-increasing number of unknown NPs have been discovered over the past few decades, much of the hidden biosynthetic potential is still in an urgent need to be disclosed. In this research, a chemical investigation was performed on a wetland soil-derived fungus Aspergillus calidoustus TJ403-EL05, leading to the isolation of a total of fourteen drimane sesquiterpenoids (1-14), incorporating three new ones, namely ustusols F-H (1-3). Their structures, comprising absolute configurations, were completely authenticated by widespread spectroscopic data, quantum chemical 13C NMR and ECD calculations, and X-ray crystallography experiments. Compound 14 exhibited moderate anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the LPS-induced NO release (IC50 = 25.6 µM).

A novel Gboxin analog induces OXPHOS inhibition and mitochondrial dysfunction-mediated apoptosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Currently, moderate efficacy and limitations of approved drugs still exist, and it is necessary to develop newer and more effective drugs. Gboxin is a promising inhibitor of OXPHOS, which specifically inhibits the growth of many kinds of cancer cell lines. In the present study, 21 Gboxin analogs incorporating amide and ester moieties were designed and synthesized. Preliminary screening results show that 5d also has specific selectivity for cancer cells, particularly on the DLBCL cells, which is weaker than that of Gboxin but still good. Thus, the effect and underlying mechanism of 5d on DLBCL cells were further studied. The results showed that 5d exhibits potent proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest effects, and its IC50 to DLBCL cells is below 1 µM. In addition, 5d induces apoptosis of DLBCL cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and this effect is stronger than that of Gboxin and VP16. Mechanistically, 5d plays its role mainly through the stimulation of metabolic stress in DLBCL cell lines, which induces OXPHOS inhibition, inflammation, DNA damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. These data suggest that 5d has potential as a candidate agent for DLBCL alternative drug development.

Structurally diverse metabolites from a soil-derived fungus Aspergillus calidoustus.

Fifteen secondary metabolites, including five new sesquiterpenoids (1-5), one new benzofuranoid (10), one new ophiobolin sesterterpenoid (11), and one new 3,5-dimethylorsellinic acid (DMOA)-based meroterpenoid (15), as well as seven known analogues (6-9 and 12-14), were isolated and characterized from fungus Aspergillus calidoustus, which was separated from the wetland soil collected at Dianchi Lake, Yunnan Province. Compound 5 featured an unusual dioxolane moiety, and compound 15 was a rare austin meroterpenoid analogue with the opened A ring, and also featured an undescribed oxygen bridge between C-3 and C-16 to construct an unexpected tetrahydrofuran ring. Their structures were established by widespread spectroscopic methods, single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments, and ECD calculation. All the isolated drimane sesquiterpenoids were evaluated for the in vitro cytotoxicity against five tumor cell lines, including SW480 (colon cancer), IOMM-Lee (meningioma), HeLa (cervical cancer), FARAGE (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), and SU-DHL-4 (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma). Compound 9 exhibited significant cytotoxicity against FARAGE and SU-DHL-4 tumor cell lines with IC50 values of 5.54 and 9.78 µM, respectively. Further mechanism study showed that 9 could significantly promote apoptosis in FARAGE and SU-DHL-4 cell lines by interfering with mitochondrial function.