Antiplasmodial Asperterpenoids from Two Aspergillus oryzae Transformants with Heterologous Expression of Sesterterpene Genes

J Org Chem. 2022 Dec 16;87(24):16807-16819. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.2c02501. Epub 2022 Dec 5.

Abstract

The synthetic biology approach enables efficient and directional mining of target compounds during drug discovery. Ten new asperterpenoids (6-15) and five known analogues (1-5), possessing a rare 5/7/3/6/5 skeleton, were obtained from two Aspergillus oryzae transformants with heterologous expression of a terpene cyclase gene AstC with one or two P450 genes AstB/A under the guidance of molecular networking. Their planar structures were determined by 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The absolute configurations of compounds 6 and 9-13 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and those of compounds 7-8 and 14-15 were compared with the ECD of known compounds. Seven of all the compounds are the first asperterpenoid oxidation products at C-17 or at C-25. In bioassay, compounds 1-2, 4-5, and 6-8 displayed moderate to strong eliminating activities against chloroquine-sensitive strain (P.f.3D7) with EC50 values ranging from 2.1 to 19.3 μM. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) was discussed, which showed that substituents at C-3, C-11, C-17, C-18, and C-23 of asperterpenoids significantly affected anti-plasma parasite activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antimalarials* / chemistry
  • Antimalarials* / pharmacology
  • Aspergillus oryzae* / genetics
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Molecular Structure
  • Sesterterpenes / chemistry
  • Sesterterpenes / pharmacology
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Sesterterpenes
  • Antimalarials