Licensed to kill: A new antibiotic, anthracimycin (see scheme), produced by a marine‐derived actinomycete in saline culture, shows significant activity toward Bacillus anthracis, the bacterial pathogen responsible for anthrax infections. Chlorination of anthracimycin gives a dichloro derivative that retains activity against Gram‐positive bacteria, such as anthrax, but also shows activity against selected Gram‐negative bacteria.

Reported is the structure and biosynthesis of ansalactam A, an ansamycin class polyketide produced by an unusual modification of the polyketide pathway. This new metabolite, produced by a marine sediment-derived bacterium of the genus Streptomyces, possesses a novel spiro γ-lactam moiety and a distinctive isobutyryl polyketide fragment observed for the first time in this class of natural products. The structure of ansalactam A was defined by spectroscopic methods including X-ray crystallographic analysis. Biosynthetic studies with stable isotopes further led to the discovery of a new, branched chain polyketide synthase extender unit derived from (E)-4-methyl-2-pentenoic acid for polyketide assembly observed for the first time in this class of natural products.

No abstract

The rapid rise in antimicrobial resistance in bacteria has generated an increased demand for the development of novel therapies to treat contemporary infections, especially those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, antimicrobial development has been largely abandoned by the pharmaceutical industry. We recently isolated the previously described thiopeptide antibiotic nosiheptide from a marine actinomycete strain and evaluated its activity against contemporary clinically relevant bacterial pathogens. Nosiheptide exhibited extremely potent activity against all contemporary MRSA strains tested including multiple drug-resistant clinical isolates, with MIC values ≤ 0.25 mg/L. Nosiheptide was also highly active against Enterococcus spp and the contemporary hypervirulent BI strain of Clostridium difficile but was inactive against most Gram-negative strains tested. Time-kill analysis revealed nosiheptide to be rapidly bactericidal against MRSA in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, with a nearly 2-log kill noted at 6 hours at 10X MIC. Furthermore, nosiheptide was found to be non-cytotoxic against mammalian cells at >> 100X MIC, and its anti-MRSA activity was not inhibited by 20% human serum. Notably, nosiheptide exhibited a significantly prolonged post-antibiotic effect (PAE) against both healthcare- and community-associated MRSA compared to vancomycin. Nosiheptide also demonstrated in vivo activity in a murine model of MRSA infection, and therefore represents a promising antibiotic for the treatment of serious infections caused by contemporary strains of MRSA.