Targeted Discovery of Cryptic Enediyne Natural Products via FRET-Coupled High-Throughput Elicitor Screening

ACS Chem Biol. 2023 Aug 18;18(8):1854-1862. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.3c00281. Epub 2023 Jul 18.

Abstract

Enediyne antibiotics are a striking family of DNA-cleaving natural products with high degrees of cytotoxicity and structural complexity. Microbial genome sequences, which have recently accumulated, point to an untapped trove of "cryptic" enediynes. Most of the cognate biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) are sparingly expressed under standard growth conditions, making it difficult to characterize their products. Herein, we report a fluorescence-based DNA cleavage assay coupled with high-throughput elicitor screening for the rapid, targeted discovery of cryptic enediyne metabolites. We applied the approach to Streptomyces clavuligerus, which harbors two such BGCs with unknown products, identified steroids as effective elicitors, and characterized 10 cryptic enediyne-derived natural products, termed clavulynes A-J with unusual carbonate and terminal olefin functionalities, with one of these congeners matching the recently reported jejucarboside. Our results contribute to the growing repertoire of enediynes and provide a blueprint for identifying additional ones in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Biological Products* / chemistry
  • Enediynes / chemistry
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Multigene Family

Substances

  • Biological Products
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Enediynes