Fungal Biotransformation of Tetracycline Antibiotics

J Org Chem. 2016 Aug 5;81(15):6186-94. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.6b01272. Epub 2016 Jul 25.

Abstract

The commercial antibiotics tetracycline (3), minocycline (4), chlortetracycline (5), oxytetracycline (6), and doxycycline (7) were biotransformed by a marine-derived fungus Paecilomyces sp. to yield seco-cyclines A-H (9-14, 18 and 19) and hemi-cyclines A-E (20-24). Structures were assigned by detailed spectroscopic analysis, and in the case of 10 X-ray crystallography. Parallel mechanisms account for substrate-product specificity, where 3-5 yield seco-cyclines and 6 and 7 yield hemi-cyclines. The susceptibility of 3-7 to fungal biotransformation is indicative of an unexpected potential for tetracycline "degradation" (i.e., antibiotic resistance) in fungal genomes. Significantly, the fungal-derived tetracycline-like viridicatumtoxins are resistant to fungal biotransformation, providing chemical insights that could inform the development of new tetracycline antibiotics resistant to enzymatic degradation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry*
  • Biotransformation*
  • Chlortetracycline / chemistry
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Doxycycline / chemistry
  • Drug Resistance, Fungal*
  • Fermentation
  • Fungi / metabolism
  • Genome, Fungal
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Minocycline / chemistry
  • Mollusca / microbiology
  • Oxygen / chemistry
  • Oxytetracycline / chemistry
  • Tetracycline / chemistry*
  • Vancomycin / chemistry

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Vancomycin
  • Tetracycline
  • Minocycline
  • Doxycycline
  • Oxygen
  • Chlortetracycline
  • Oxytetracycline