A new tetronomycin analog, broad-spectrum and potent antibiotic against drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria

Chem Biodivers. 2024 Feb;21(2):e202301834. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202301834. Epub 2024 Feb 1.

Abstract

We discovered a new tetronomycin analog, C-32-OH tetronomycin (2) from the Streptomyces sp. K20-0247 strain, which produces tetronomycin (1). After NMR analysis of 2, we determined the planar structure. Futhermore, the absolute stereochemistry of 2 was deduced based on the biosynthetic pathway of 1 in the K20-0247 strain and a comparison of experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) results of 1 with 2. While 2 exihibits potent antibacterial activity aganist Gram-positive baceria including vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) strains and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), the antibacterial activity of 2 shows 16-32-folds weaker than that of 1 suggesting that the C-34 methyl group in 1 is one of the very important functinal group. Moreover, we evaluated the ionophore activity of 1 and 2 and neither compound shows ionophore activity at reasonable concetrations. Our research suggests that 1 and 2 would have different target(s) from an ionophore mechanism in the antibacterial activity and tetronomycins are promising natural products for broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Keywords: antibiotic; antimicrobial resistance (AMR); clinical isolates; natural product; tetronomycin.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents* / pharmacology
  • Ethers*
  • Gram-Positive Bacteria
  • Ionophores
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • tetronomycin
  • Ethers
  • Ionophores

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