Apoptolidin, a new apoptosis inducer in transformed cells from Nocardiopsis sp.

Nocardiopsis sp. was found to produce a new active compound designated apoptolidin (Fig. 1). In this report, we describe the production, isolation, physico-chemical properties and biological activity of apoptolidin. The producing organism was cultivated in 500mlErlenmeyer flasks containing 100ml of a medium consisting of glycerol 2.0%, molasses 1.0%, casein 0.5%, Polypepton 0.1% and CaCO3 0.4% (pH 7.2) on a rotary shaker at 27°C for 5 days. The culture broth (2liters) was centrifuged and the supernatant was extracted with EtOAc. The mycelial acetone extract was concentrated to a small volumeand then extracted with EtOAc. The combined extract was subjected to silica gel column chromatography with