Discovery of novel secondary metabolites from extremophiles by genome mining

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23671
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0601:Agricultural chemistry and related fields
• Research Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Ueoka Reiko 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, 生命工学領域, 研究員 (30592365)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 天然物化学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we focused on the halophiles to discover novel secondary metabolites for drug leads. Detailed analysis of the genomes from NCBI database showed the potent halophiles with the orphan biosynthetic gene clusters in their genomes. Selected halophiles were cultured in the different conditions, and the extracts were analyzed to find new natural products. Also, the marine bacteria, especially Pseudoalteromonadaceae, residing in Okinawan waters were studied because of the high number of biosynthetic gene clusters. From those bacteria, the extract from Pseudoalteromonas piscicida showed the presence of a novel metabolite. The mass spectrometry-guided fractionations yielded a new lipopeptide pseudoalteropeptide A, and its bioactivity was evaluated.

Free Research Field

天然物化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

天然資源からの新規化合物の探索が困難になりつつある現在においても、未利用な天然資源を探索源とし、ゲノム情報を活用することで、より効率的な新規化合物の探索ができる可能性を示すことができた。ゲノム情報が広く公開されている微生物においても、生合成遺伝子を詳細に解析することで、新規化合物を生産しうる微生物が種々存在することが分かり、これらから、今後もさらなる新規化合物が発見されることが期待される。