scholarly journals Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior

eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline SR Chin ◽  
Shane R Ellis ◽  
Huong T Pham ◽  
Stephen J Blanksby ◽  
Kenji Mori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Fatty Acyl ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Insect Pheromones ◽  
Tiglic Acid ◽  
Oxygen Groups ◽  
And Function ◽  
Specialized Diet ◽  
Ejaculatory Bulb

Pheromones play an important role in the behavior, ecology, and evolution of many organisms. The structure of many insect pheromones typically consists of a hydrocarbon backbone, occasionally modified with various functional oxygen groups. Here we show that sex-specific triacylclyerides (TAGs) are broadly conserved across the subgenus Drosophila in 11 species and represent a novel class of pheromones that has been largely overlooked. In desert-adapted drosophilids, 13 different TAGs are secreted exclusively by males from the ejaculatory bulb, transferred to females during mating, and function synergistically to inhibit courtship from other males. Sex-specific TAGs are comprised of at least one short branched tiglic acid and a long linear fatty acyl component, an unusual structural motif that has not been reported before in other natural products. The diversification of chemical cues used by desert-adapted Drosophila as pheromones may be related to their specialized diet of fermenting cacti.

Natural Products for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (34) ◽  
pp. 5790-5828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze Wang ◽  
Chunyang He ◽  
Jing-Shan Shi
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Neuroprotective Effect ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Progressive Degeneration ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
And Function

Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by the progressive degeneration of the structure and function of the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system. Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) are the common neurodegenerative diseases, which typically occur in people over the age of 60. With the rapid development of an aged society, over 60 million people worldwide are suffering from these uncurable diseases. Therefore, the search for new drugs and therapeutic methods has become an increasingly important research topic. Natural products especially those from the Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs), are the most important sources of drugs, and have received extensive interest among pharmacist. In this review, in order to facilitate further chemical modification of those useful natural products by pharmacists, we will bring together recent studies in single natural compound from TCMs with neuroprotective effect.

Biosynthesis of cyclopropane in natural products

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suze Ma ◽  
Dhanaraju Mandalapu ◽  
Shu Wang ◽  
Qi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Biochemical Properties ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Enzymatic Pathways

This review discusses the diverse enzymatic pathways in the biosynthesis of cyclopropane, a unique structural motif with important biochemical properties.

Total Synthesis of the Pseudoindoxyl Class of Natural Products

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawan Surendra Dhote ◽  
Pitambar Patel ◽  
Kumar Vanka ◽  
Chepuri Ramana
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Total Synthesis ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Large Set

The pseudoindoxyl sub-structural motif, amongst the large set of the indole class of alkaloids, represents a unique subset of the oxygenated indole class of the alkaloids family. A majority of...

Beyond conventional construction of phthalimide core: A review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suven Das
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Primary Amines ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Phthalic Acids

Phthalimides are privileged structural motif frequently found in natural products, pharmaceuticals and organic materials. The Most common strategy for their synthesis involves condensation of phthalic acids/anhydrides with primary amines. However,...

scholarly journals Ribosomally derived lipopeptides containing distinct fatty acyl moieties

2022 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. e2113120119
Author(s):  
Florian Hubrich ◽  
Nina M. Bösch ◽  
Clara Chepkirui ◽  
Brandon I. Morinaka ◽  
Michael Rust ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Cyclic Peptide ◽  
Fatty Acyl ◽  
Antifungal Drugs ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Bacterial Phyla ◽  
Peptide Synthetases ◽  
Antibacterial And Antifungal ◽  
Microbial Natural Products

Lipopeptides represent a large group of microbial natural products that include important antibacterial and antifungal drugs and some of the most-powerful known biosurfactants. The vast majority of lipopeptides comprise cyclic peptide backbones N-terminally equipped with various fatty acyl moieties. The known compounds of this type are biosynthesized by nonribosomal peptide synthetases, giant enzyme complexes that assemble their products in a non–gene-encoded manner. Here, we report the genome-guided discovery of ribosomally derived, fatty-acylated lipopeptides, termed selidamides. Heterologous reconstitution of three pathways, two from cyanobacteria and one from an arctic, ocean-derived alphaproteobacterium, allowed structural characterization of the probable natural products and suggest that selidamides are widespread over various bacterial phyla. The identified representatives feature cyclic peptide moieties and fatty acyl units attached to (hydroxy)ornithine or lysine side chains by maturases of the GCN5-related N-acetyltransferase superfamily. In contrast to nonribosomal lipopeptides that are usually produced as congener mixtures, the three selidamides are selectively fatty acylated with C10, C12, or C16 fatty acids, respectively. These results highlight the ability of ribosomal pathways to emulate products with diverse, nonribosomal-like features and add to the biocatalytic toolbox for peptide drug improvement and targeted discovery.

scholarly journals Antioxidants and Skin Protection

Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 704
Author(s):  
María Herranz-López ◽  
Enrique Barrajón-Catalán
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Skin Protection ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use ◽  
And Function

Natural products have a long history of use for skincare and the improvement of the appearance and function of aged and/or damaged skin [...]

Bacterial ß-Barrel Outer Membrane Proteins

2009 ◽  
pp. 182-207
Author(s):  
Pantelis G. Bagos ◽  
Stavros J. Hamodrakas
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Bacterial Cell ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Bacterial Outer Membrane ◽  
And Function

ß-barrel outer membrane proteins constitute the second and less well-studied class of transmembrane proteins. They are present exclusively in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and presumably in the outer membrane of mitochondria and chloroplasts. During the last few years, remarkable advances have been made towards an understanding of their functional and structural features. It is now wellknown that ß-barrels are performing a large variety of biologically important functions for the bacterial cell. Such functions include acting as specific or non-specific channels, receptors for various compounds, enzymes, translocation channels, structural proteins, and adhesion proteins. All these functional roles are of great importance for the survival of the bacterial cell under various environmental conditions or for the pathogenic properties expressed by these organisms. This chapter reviews the currently available literature regarding the structure and function of bacterial outer membrane proteins. We emphasize the functional diversity expressed by a common structural motif such as the ß-barrel, and we provide evidence from the current literature for dozens of newly discovered families of transmembrane ß-barrels.

scholarly journals Bacterial Natural Product Drug Discovery for New Antibiotics: Strategies for Tackling the Problem of Antibiotic Resistance by Efficient Bioprospecting

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 842
Author(s):  
Yannik K. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Clinical Use ◽  
Bacterial Isolates ◽  
Development Of Resistance ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance Genes ◽  
New Antibiotics ◽  
Fast Development ◽  
And Function

The problem of antibiotic resistance has become a challenge for our public health and society; it has allowed infectious diseases to re-emerge as a risk to human health. New antibiotics that are introduced to the market face the rise of resistant pathogens after a certain period of use. The relatively fast development of resistance against some antibiotics seems to be closely linked to their microbial origin and function in nature. Antibiotics in clinical use are merely products of microorganisms or derivatives of microbial products. The evolution of these antimicrobial compounds has progressed with the evolution of the respective resistance mechanisms in microbes for billions of years. Thus, antimicrobial resistance genes are present within the environment and can be taken up by pathogens through horizontal gene transfer. Natural products from bacteria are an important source of leads for drug development, and microbial natural products have contributed the most antibiotics in current clinical use. Bioprospecting for new antibiotics is a labor-intensive task as obstacles such as redetection of known compounds and low compound yields consume significant resources. The number of bacterial isolates one can theoretically investigate for new secondary metabolites is, on the other hand, immense. Therefore, the available capacity for biodiscovery should be focused on the most promising sources for chemical novelty and bioactivity, employing the appropriate scientific tools. This can be done by first looking into under- or unexplored environments for bacterial isolates and by focusing on the promising candidates to reduce the number of subjects.

scholarly journals Biosynthesis of sulfonamide and sulfamate antibiotics in Actinomycete

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayoshi Awakawa ◽  
Lena Barra ◽  
Ikuro Abe
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Organosulfur Compounds ◽  
Antibacterial Drugs ◽  
Structural Motifs ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
Bacterial Genus ◽  
Current State ◽  
Biosynthetic Engineering

Abstract Sulfonamides and sulfamates are a group of organosulfur compounds that contain the signature sulfamoyl structural motif. These compounds were initially only known as synthetic antibacterial drugs but were later also discovered as natural products. Eight highly potent examples have been isolated from actinomycetes to date, illustrating the large biosynthetic repertoire of this bacterial genus. For the biosynthesis of these compounds, several distinct and unique biosynthetic machineries have been discovered, capable to generate the unique S-N bond. For the creation of novel, second generation natural products by biosynthetic engineering efforts, a detailed understanding of the underlying enzyme machinery towards potent structural motifs is crucial. In this review, we aim to summarize the current state of knowledge on sulfonamide and sulfamate biosynthesis. A detailed discussion for the secondary sulfamate ascamycin, the tertiary sulfonamide sulfadixiamycin A, and the secondary sulfonamide SB-203208 is provided and their bioactivities and mode of actions are discussed.

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