Campafungins: Inhibitors of Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans Hyphal Growth

J Nat Prod. 2020 Sep 25;83(9):2718-2726. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c00641. Epub 2020 Sep 3.

Abstract

Campafungin A is a polyketide that was recognized in the Candida albicans fitness test due to its antiproliferative and antihyphal activity. Its mode of action was hypothesized to involve inhibition of a cAMP-dependent PKA pathway. The originally proposed structure appeared to require a polyketide assembled in a somewhat unusual fashion. However, structural characterization data were never formally published. This background stimulated a reinvestigation in which campafungin A and three closely related minor constituents were purified from fermentations of a strain of the ascomycete fungus Plenodomus enteroleucus. Labeling studies, along with extensive NMR analysis, enabled assignment of a revised structure consistent with conventional polyketide synthetic machinery. The structure elucidation of campafungin A and new analogues encountered in this study, designated here as campafungins B, C, and D, is presented, along with a proposed biosynthetic route. The antimicrobial spectrum was expanded to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Candida tropicalis, Candida glabrata, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, with MICs ranging as low as 4-8 μg mL-1 in C. neoformans. Mode-of-action studies employing libraries of C. neoformans mutants indicated that multiple pathways were affected, but mutants in PKA/cAMP pathways were unaffected, indicating that the mode of action was distinct from that observed in C. albicans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
  • Ascomycota / chemistry
  • Ascomycota / metabolism
  • Bacteria / drug effects
  • Candida albicans / drug effects*
  • Cryptococcus neoformans / drug effects*
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / drug effects
  • Fermentation
  • Fungi / drug effects
  • Hyphae / drug effects*
  • Hyphae / growth & development*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Structure
  • Polyketides / pharmacology
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Antifungal Agents
  • Polyketides
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases