Drug discovery through the isolation of natural products from Burkholderia.

Introduction: The increasing threat of antibiotic-resistant pathogens makes it imperative that new antibiotics to combat them are discovered. Burkholderia is a genus of Gram-negative, non-sporulating bacteria. While ubiquitous and capable of growing within plants and groundwater, they are primarily soil-dwelling organisms. These include the more virulent forms of Burkholderia such as Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc).Areas covered: This review provides a synopsis of current research on the natural products isolated from the genus Burkholderia. The authors also cover the research on the drug discovery efforts that have been performed on the natural products derived from Burkholderia.Expert opinion: Though Burkholderia has a small number of pathogenic species, the majority of the genus is avirulent and almost all members of the genus are capable of producing useful antimicrobial products that could potentially lead to the development of novel therapeutics against infectious diseases. The need for discovery of new antibiotics is urgent due to the ever-increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, coupled with the decline in the discovery of new antibiotics.

Oxidation of lanthionines renders the lantibiotic nisin inactive.

The peptide antibiotic nisin A belongs to the group of antibiotics called lantibiotics. They are classified as lantibiotics because they contain the structural group lanthionine. Lanthionines are composed of a single sulfur atom that is linked to the beta-carbons of two alanine moieties. These sulfur atoms are vulnerable to environmental oxidation. A mild oxidation reaction was performed on nisin A to determine the relative effects it would have on bioactivity. High-mass-accuracy Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry data revealed the addition of seven, eight, and nine oxygens. These additions correspond to the five lanthionines, two methionines, and two histidines that would be susceptible to oxidation. Subsequent bioassays revealed that the oxidized form of nisin A had a complete loss of bactericidal activity. In a competition study, the oxidized nisin did not appear to have an antagonistic affect on the bioactivity of nisin A, since the addition of an equal molar concentration of the oxidized variant did not have an influence on the bactericidal activity of the native antibiotic. Electron microscopy data revealed that the oxidized forms were still capable of assembling into large circular complexes, demonstrating that oxidation does not disrupt the lateral assembly mechanism of the antibiotic. Affinity thin-layer chromatography and fluorescence microscopy experiments suggested that the loss of activity is due to the inability of the oxidized form of nisin to bind to the cell wall precursor lipid II. Given the loss of bioactivity following oxidation, oxidation should be an important factor to consider in future production, purification, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic studies.

Elucidation of the antimicrobial mechanism of mutacin 1140.

Mutacin 1140 and nisin A are peptide antibiotics that belong to the lantibiotic family. N-Terminal rings A and B of nisin A and mutacin 1140 (lipid II-binding domain) share many structural and sequence similarities. Nisin A binds lipid II and thus disrupts cell wall synthesis and also forms transmembrane pores. Very little is known about mutacin 1140 in this regard. We performed fluorescence-based studies using a bacteria-mimetic membrane system. The results indicated that lipid II monomers are arranged differently in the mutacin 1140 complex than in the nisin A complex. These differences in complex formation may be attributed to the fact that nisin A uses lipid II to form a distinct pore complex, while mutacin 1140 does not form pores in this membrane system. Further experiments demonstrated that the mutacin 1140-lipid II and nisin A-lipid II complexes are very stable and capable of withstanding competition from each other. Transmembrane electrical potential experiments using a Streptococcus rattus strain, which is sensitive to mutacin 1140, demonstrated that mutacin 1140 does not form pores in this strain even at a concentration 8 times higher than the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Circular complexes of mutacin 1140 and nisin A were observed by electron microscopy, providing direct evidence for a lateral assembly mechanism for these antibiotics. Mutacin 1140 did exhibit a membrane disruptive function in another commonly used artificial bacterial membrane system, and its disruptive activity was enhanced by increasing amounts of anionic phospholipids.

Bicyclo[3.2.1]octane synthons from cyclopropenes: functionalization of cycloadducts by nucleophilic additions.

It has been known for several decades that a highly functionalized family of tetrahalobicyclo[3.2.1]octadienes are readily available through the cycloaddition of furan or cyclopentadiene with either tetrachloro- or tetrabromocyclopropene. However, the application of these highly functionalized building blocks in synthesis has remained relatively unexplored in relation to their better-known counterparts derived through oxyallyl cation additions. As a first step toward utilizing these highly versatile intermediates in synthesis, a study of the addition of various nucleophiles to the halogenated nucleus has been conducted. It has been found that these halogenated systems are amenable to a wide range of functionalizations in high yields and with good selectivities.

Bridged synthons from tetrabromocyclopropene: studies on the rearrangement of the primary Diels-Alder adduct with 2,5-dimethylfuran.

The reaction of tetrabromocyclopropene and furan leads directly to 8-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octadiene derivatives. It has been proposed that this involves an initial Diels-Alder reaction followed by rearrangement of the primary adduct. We have, for the first time, isolated a primary adduct and established through X-ray crystallographic analysis that the adduct is the product of an exo-selective addition. Kinetic studies suggest the intermediacy of charged intermediates during the rearrangement.

Silver-promoted reactions of bicyclo[3.2.1]octadiene derivatives.

[reaction: see text] Highly substituted bicyclo[3.2.1]octadiene building blocks are easily prepared from tetrachloro- or tetrabromocyclopropene through reaction with cyclic dienes. These polyhalogenated derivatives can serve as precursors to a variety of functionalized bridged bicyclic compounds. Herein, we report on the generation and reaction of electrophilic species with silver ion.