Starting from epothilone A±D (1a±2b) obtained by large scale fermentation of the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum the thiazole side-chain was extensively modi®ed by substitution, oxidation and replacement. Metallation afforded the C-19 carbanion 4 which was quenched by various carbon and heteroatom electrophiles to give C-19 substituted epothilones 5. Thiazole N-oxides 9 were obtained by trea...

Myxobacteria of marine origin are rare and hard-to-culture microorganisms, but they genetically harbor high potential to produce novel antibiotics. An extensive investigation on the secondary metabolome of the unique marine myxobacterium Haliangium ochraceum SMP-2 led to the isolation of a new polyketide-nonribosomal peptide hybrid product, haliamide (1). Its structure was elucidated by spectro...

M any types of free-living bacteria communicate with one another by chemical signals, thereby coordinating metabolic activities and developmental processes. For instance, starved cells of the myxobacterium Myxococcus xanthus release the A signal, a mixture of six amino acids, to promote aggregation, the first step in the development of a fruiting body. Escherichia coli cells coordinate their mo...

A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library was constructed to isolate the biosynthetic gene cluster for the polyketide/peptide hybrid-type antibiotic cystothiazole A from the myxobacterium Cystobacter fuscus strain AJ-13278. Sequence analysis of a 63.9 kb contiguous region that encompasses the biosynthetic gene cluster (cta) led to the identification of a polyketide synthase (PKS)/nonribos...

Interaction of the predatory myxobacterium Myxococcus xanthus with the non-motile, antibiotic producer Streptomyces coelicolor was examined using a variety of experimental approaches. Myxococcus xanthus cells prey on S. coelicolor, forming streams of ordered cells that lyse the S. coelicolor hyphae in the contact area between the two colonies. The interaction increases actinorhodin production b...

Despite their fastidious nature, marine myxobacteria have considerable genetic potential to produce novel secondary metabolites. The marine myxobacterium Haliangium ochraceum SMP-2 produces the antifungal polyketide haliangicin (1), but its productivity is unsatisfactory. The biosynthetic gene cluster hli (47.8 kbp) associated with 1 was identified and heterologously expressed in Myxococcus xan...

Covering: 1994 to 2008. The disorazoles comprise a family of 29 closely related macrocyclic polyketides isolated in 1994 from the fermentation broth of the gliding myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum. Disorazoles A1, E and C1 have shown exceptional biological activites toward inhibiting the proliferation of human cancer cell lines in picomolar and nanomolar concentrations through the disruption ...