Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• Smoothened protein (Smo protein) [7]. The HH pathway, implicated in the development and progression of various human cancers (including colorectal, brain, gastrointestinal, lung, and breast cancers), drives tumorigenesis [8]. Consequently, HH pathway inhibitors have demonstrated significant anticancer

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• biosynthetic pathway as proposed by Cox, based on bioinformatic analyses of polyketide synthase (PKS) modules and in vitro studies. Initially, highly reducing iterative polyketide synthase (HR-iPKS) SorbA forms the thioester 30 on its acyl carrier protein (ACP) domain from acetate and two units of malonyl-CoA

• reaction with biotin azide, which led to selective pull-down with streptavidin agarose and isolation of the probe–protein covalent complex. Proteomic analysis of the isolated proteins narrowed down the MaMO and MaDA candidates, including several berberine bridge enzyme (BBE)-like enzymes. This FAD-linked

• TylGI loads a methylmalonyl-CoA onto the acyl carrier protein (ACP) in module 1. The ketosynthase-like decarboxylase (KSQ) domain catalyzes the decarboxylation of the loaded methylmalonyl moiety, and subsequent modules 2 and 3 extend the carbon chain using two molecules of malonyl-CoA. The β

Methyltransferases from RiPP pathways: shaping the landscape of natural product chemistry

• Maria-Paula Schröder,
• Isabel P.-M. Pfeiffer and
• Silja Mordhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1652–1670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.147

• of RiPPs have a molecular weight between 1,000 and 5,000 Da. Peptide natural products exhibit high specificity and binding affinity to their corresponding targets [9][10]. The inhibition of protein–protein interactions is an emerging strategy in the development of novel therapeutics [11]. Binding to

• proteins allows peptides to disturb protein–protein interactions, which is a challenging task for small molecules. The principles of RiPP biosynthesis make the RiPP technology an ideal platform for the generation of designed peptides and allow tailored derivatisation of these peptides. The RiPP technology

• the specialised metabolism of bacteria and fungi. Each NRPS module is minimally composed of a condensation (C) domain, an adenylation (A) domain, and a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP or thiolation/T domain), and one module typically incorporates one amino acid into the final natural product. In

Polymer degrading marine Microbulbifer bacteria: an un(der)utilized source of chemical and biocatalytic novelty

• Weimao Zhong and
• Vinayak Agarwal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.146

• exochitinases. Genomic analysis of a marine Microbulbifer degradans 2-40 revealed three chitin depolymerases (ChiA, ChiB, and ChiC) [117]. ChiB was cloned and expressed in E. coli [22]. It is a modular protein that is predicted to contain two GH-18 catalytic domains, two polyserine domains, and an acidic repeat

Photoswitchable glycoligands targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA

• Yu Fan,
• Ahmed El Rhaz,
• Stéphane Maisonneuve,
• Emilie Gillon,
• Maha Fatthalla,
• Franck Le Bideau,
• Guillaume Laurent,
• Samir Messaoudi,
• Anne Imberty and
• Juan Xie

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1486–1496, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.132

• reversible light modulation of their activity since each isomer shows distinct structural and electronic properties [13]. Photoisomerization-induced conformational and polarity changes may allow to increase or decrease the interaction with the target protein or receptors, then modulate the drug potency on

• ][34], confirming the favorable interaction of the aryl group with the protein surface. For all compounds, no significant differences of affinities are observed between the E- and Z-isomer, with the exception of compounds 1 and 3 with para-orientation between the two aryl groups. The affinity of the E

• the known crystal structure. The extended E-isomer establishes contact through galactoside and the first aryl ring only, while the bent Z-isomer has proper conformation to wrap around the central His53 residue and to establish a more extended interaction with the protein surface. This would be in

Bioinformatic prediction of the stereoselectivity of modular polyketide synthase: an update of the sequence motifs in ketoreductase domain

• Changjun Xiang,
• Shunyu Yao,
• Ruoyu Wang and
• Lihan Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1476–1485, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.131

• embedded in the assembly line or not. All cis-AT PKS modules contain a ketosynthase (KS), an acyltransferase (AT), and an acyl carrier protein (ACP) to produce β-keto-intermediates, and some modules contain additional β-processing domains such as ketoreductase (KR), dehydratase (DH), and enoylreductase (ER

• 7.450 (E-INS-i option), Neighbor-Joining trees were built by Geneious Tree Builder using Jukes-Cantor distance model. Sequence logo visualization was conducted by WebLogo 3. Protein structural analysis was conducted by PyMOL. (a) Domain compositions and the products of α-, β-, γ- and δ-modules in cis-AT

Cofactor-independent C–C bond cleavage reactions catalyzed by the AlpJ family of oxygenases in atypical angucycline biosynthesis

• Jinmin Gao,
• Liyuan Li,
• Shijie Shen,
• Guomin Ai,
• Bin Wang,
• Fang Guo,
• Tongjian Yang,
• Hui Han,
• Zhengren Xu,
• Guohui Pan and
• Keqiang Fan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1198–1206, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.102

• contraction reactions, yielding a benzofluorene intermediate 4 and the dimer 5, both featuring a kinamycin skeleton (Scheme 1) [11][12]. Recent investigations unveiled the catalytic activity of the O-methyltransferase-like protein AlpH, which catalyzes a unique SAM-independent coupling of ʟ-glutamylhydrazine

• demonstrate the FADH2/FMNH2-dependent nature of AlpJ-family oxygenases when utilizing 1 as the substrate. Intriguingly, these enzymes exhibit notable similarities to cofactor-independent anthrone oxygenases, exemplified by TcmH and ActVA-Orf6, in both protein sequences and structures (see Figure S1

• oxygenases. Notably, AlpJ-family oxygenases stand as a pioneering example of enzymes capable of catalyzing oxidative reactions in either an FADH2/FMNH2-dependent or -independent manner. Up to date, many oxygenases from diverse evolutionary families, featuring varied protein folds and quaternary arrangements

Mild and efficient synthesis and base-promoted rearrangement of novel isoxazolo[4,5-b]pyridines

• Vladislav V. Nikol’skiy,
• Mikhail E. Minyaev,
• Maxim A. Bastrakov and
• Alexey M. Starosotnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1069–1075, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.94

• inhibitor of homeodomain-interacting protein kinases (HIPKs) [32], and combretastatin A-4 analogs evaluated for their anticancer properties against a panel of 60 human cancer cell lines [33] (Figure 2). The structures of all new compounds were confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR and HRMS. X-ray diffraction studies

Monitoring carbohydrate 3D structure quality with the Privateer database

• Jordan S. Dialpuri,
• Haroldas Bagdonas,
• Lucy C. Schofield,
• Phuong Thao Pham,
• Lou Holland and
• Jon Agirre

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 931–939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.83

• Jordan S. Dialpuri Haroldas Bagdonas Lucy C. Schofield Phuong Thao Pham Lou Holland Jon Agirre York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, UK 10.3762/bjoc.20.83 Abstract The remediation of the carbohydrate data of the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has brought

• modelling of glycoproteins and protein–carbohydrate complexes is pivotal in understanding the complex biochemical interactions that affect the physiological function of cells [1]. Any mechanistic analysis done with finely grained approaches such as QM/MM [2] relies heavily on the correctness of the starting

• in the past has been plagued with software related problems from incorrect libraries to incomplete support [4]. Carbohydrates are mobile, highly branched additions to the comparatively rigid protein framework; in macromolecular crystallography, this causes heterogeneity throughout the crystal lattice

(Bio)isosteres of ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes

• H. Erik Diepers and
• Johannes C. L. Walker

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 859–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.78

• benzenes that have more than one substituent; for example, the ortho-, meta-, or para- relative substitution of a disubstituted benzene should ideally be replicated in the saturated bioisostere to ensure ligand–protein binding is conserved through the bioisosteric swap. Bioisosteres of para-substituted

Activity assays of NnlA homologs suggest the natural product N-nitroglycine is degraded by diverse bacteria

• Kara A. Strickland,
• Brenda Martinez Rodriguez,
• Ashley A. Holland,
• Shelby Wagner,
• Michelle Luna-Alva,
• David E. Graham and
• Jonathan D. Caranto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 830–840, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.75

• (Scheme 1) [20][21]. Vs NnlA contains a Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain – protein domains that often bind heme and function as gas or redox sensors [20]. Indeed, Vs NnlA was shown to contain a heme cofactor [21]. Mutagenesis of a predicted histidine ligand to this heme resulted in loss of the heme and the

• contaminants but are either undissociated higher oligomer states or are oligomers whose formation is induced by SDS treatment, which has been observed for other proteins [29][30]. To characterize these oligomer states of native protein, analytical size exclusion chromatography data were collected (Figure 2B

• these homologs exist mostly as dimers in solution. Next, the heme incorporation of the isolated homologs was measured. UV–vis absorption spectra showed that each NnlA homolog exhibited characteristic Soret absorption features consistent with heme binding to the protein (Figure 3). In addition, the A412

Methodology for awakening the potential secondary metabolic capacity in actinomycetes

• Shun Saito and
• Midori A. Arai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 753–766, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.69

• production of secondary metabolites. For example, overexpression of Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory protein (SARP) family transcriptional activators led to the discovery of many new secondary metabolites [42]. Du et al. searched for SARP family transcriptional activators from the draft genome of

• inducing resistance, and this approach has contributed to the isolation of many new compounds [47]. The ribosome engineering method is based on the principle that a mutation in the ribosomal S12 protein, which is associated with the acquisition of antibiotic resistance, activates secondary metabolism. The

• ribosomal S12 protein mutation results in increased expression of translation factors, which leads to enhanced protein synthesis in secondary metabolism [47]. Liu et al. reported activation of the production of bohemamines 11–13, bacterial alkaloids containing a pyrrolizidine core with two unusual methyl

Research progress on the pharmacological activity, biosynthetic pathways, and biosynthesis of crocins

• Zhongwei Hua,
• Nan Liu and
• Xiaohui Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 741–752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.68

• (ROSs) [28]. Crocins can inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase and increase the acetylcholine concentration, thus improving the learning and memory ability of the brain [29]. Moreover, crocins prevent the abnormal aggregation of amyloid β-protein (Aβ), microtubule-associated protein tau, and α

• mg/g in the leaves [85]. It was reported that CrtZ catalyzes the rate-limiting reaction in zeaxanthin (7) biosynthesis, and the ORANGE protein regulates PSY expression to increase carotenoid accumulation. Ahrazem et al. coexpressed AtOrMut from A. thaliana, BrCrtZ from a Brevundimonas sp., and

Substrate specificity of a ketosynthase domain involved in bacillaene biosynthesis

• Zhiyong Yin and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 734–740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.67

• performed to eliminate any unreacted free 11 in the reaction mixture. The resulting protein preparations were subsequently analysed by 13C NMR spectroscopy. While the signal for the thioester carbonyl group of free 11 dissolved in incubation buffer was observed at δ = 203.33 ppm (Figure 1A), for both

• analysed by 13C NMR, showing the presence of free 11 after the first centrifugation step (Figure 1C), but not after the last round of centrifugation (Figure 1D). Protein binding of the substrate surrogates 11 was confirmed through digestion of BaeJ-KS2 using protease K after buffer exchange. The digested

• binding of both substrate surrogates to BaeJ-KS2, but it is unclear from these experiments, if 11 is bound covalently to the protein or through non-covalent interactions. To gain further evidence for the covalent binding of 11 to BaeJ-KS2, the highly conserved Cys residue involved in substrate attachment

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of macrocyclic peptides and polyketides via thioesterase-catalyzed macrocyclization

• Senze Qiao,
• Zhongyu Cheng and
• Fuzhuo Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 721–733, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.66

• essential domains, namely adenylation (A), condensation (C), and peptidyl carrier protein (PCP). Each type I PKS module consists of three core domains containing acyltransferase (AT), ketosynthase (KS), and acyl carrier protein (ACP). PCP and ACP are collectively called thiolation domain (T). The sequence

• chemically synthetic mimics before developing the enzymatic transformation. Due to N-acetylcysteamine (NAC) having a substructure to the phosphopantetheinyl arm of the carrier protein [24][25], the corresponding thioester can be recognized by TE domains and has become the most common substrate in enzymatic

• gramicidin S synthetase GrsB [44]. Combined with the peptidyl carrier protein, GrsB PCP-TE was tested by using corresponding pentapeptides NAC thioester and thiophenol thioester, which led to the formation of the desired cyclic decapeptide lactam gramicidin S (9) through a sequential dimerization and

New variochelins from soil-isolated Variovorax sp. H002

• Jabal Rahmat Haedar,
• Aya Yoshimura and
• Toshiyuki Wakimoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 692–700, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.63

• , we also identified a var gene cluster containing NRPS and PKS genes: the domain organizations of NRPS and PKS, and the adjacently encoded modification enzymes, were comparable to those of the gene cluster reported by Nett et al. with 92–99% identity at the protein level [5] (Figure 3a and Figure S42

• by diamonds. EIMS of DMOX derivatized free fatty acids derived from variochelins C–E (3–5). (a) 3, (b) 4, and (c) 5. (a) Plausible biosynthetic pathway of variochelin A–E (1–5). The circles represent domains: A: adenylation domain, C: condensation domain, PCP: peptide carrier protein, E

Production of non-natural 5-methylorsellinate-derived meroterpenoids in Aspergillus oryzae

• Jia Tang,
• Yixiang Zhang and
• Yudai Matsuda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 638–644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.56

• adrI used in this study was constructed in our previous study, in which the product of AdrI was clearly detected [21], the inability of AdrI to yield a cyclized product is not likely to be caused by an inactive protein. The trt1-transformed strain produced a new compound 3 (molecular formula: C25H36O5

Introduction of a human- and keyboard-friendly N-glycan nomenclature

• Friedrich Altmann,
• Johannes Helm,
• Martin Pabst and
• Johannes Stadlmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 607–620, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.53

• greatly facilitate keyboard-based mining for glycan substructures in glycan repositories. Keywords: N-glycans; nomenclature; structural features; Introduction Virtually any article on protein glycosylation starts with imposing assurances about the biological significance of the various structures. This

• the chemical peculiarities deliberately introduced by their sorcery. Biochemists and medical chemists, however, rather focus on the native glycan structure as grafted on the protein substrate by the biosynthetic machinery. Thus, biochemists could do with the much simpler IUPAC code [1] (Figure 1

• “proglycan” nomenclature, an acronym derived from our then nom de guerre “protein-glycosylation analysis” group. By the way, glycan analysis also funneled in activities in the area of allergy diagnosis, where the term MUXF3 enjoys widespread use [38][39][40]. Finally, our work on the isomer-specific analysis

Chemical and biosynthetic potential of Penicillium shentong XL-F41

• Ran Zou,
• Xin Li,
• Xiaochen Chen,
• Yue-Wei Guo and
• Baofu Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 597–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.52

• reverse prenylated tryptophan. However, attempts to express the protein in various Escherichia coli hosts were unsuccessful, suggesting that eukaryotic hosts might be more suitable for future studies. We plan to conduct further experiments to substantiate the hypothesis regarding the biosynthetic pathways

A myo-inositol dehydrogenase involved in aminocyclitol biosynthesis of hygromycin A

• Michael O. Akintubosun and
• Melanie A. Higgins

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 589–596, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.51

• the individual enzyme activities is lacking. In this study, we verify the activity for one enzyme in this pathway. We show that Hyg17 is a myo-inositol dehydrogenase that has a unique substrate scope when compared to other myo-inositol dehydrogenases. Furthermore, we analyze sequences from the protein

• family containing Hyg17 and discuss genome mining strategies that target this protein family to identify biosynthetic clusters for natural product discovery. Keywords: aminocyclitol; biosynthesis; hygromycin A; inositol dehydrogenase; myo-inositol; Introduction Hygromycin A is a natural product that

• bodies when recombinantly produced by various E. coli expression strains. However, we were able to obtain pure soluble protein when expressing Hyg17 in a Rhodococcus expression system (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1) [10][11]. According to the proposed hygromycin A biosynthetic pathway, Hyg17

Possible bi-stable structures of pyrenebutanoic acid-linked protein molecules adsorbed on graphene: theoretical study

• Yasuhiro Oishi,
• Motoharu Kitatani and
• Koichi Kusakabe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 570–577, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.49

• Yasuhiro Oishi Motoharu Kitatani Koichi Kusakabe Graduate School of Science, University of Hyogo, Kamigori, Hyogo 678-1297, Japan 10.3762/bjoc.20.49 Abstract We theoretically analyze possible multiple conformations of protein molecules immobilized by 1-pyrenebutanoic acid succinimidyl ester (PASE

• ) linkers on graphene. The activation barrier between two bi-stable conformations exhibited by PASE is confirmed to be based on the steric hindrance effect between a hydrogen on the pyrene group and a hydrogen on the alkyl group of this molecule. Even after the protein is supplemented, this steric hindrance

• effect remains if the local structure of the linker consisting of an alkyl group and a pyrene group is maintained. Therefore, it is likely that the kinetic behavior of a protein immobilized with a single PASE linker exhibits an activation barrier-type energy surface between the bi-stable conformations on

Entry to new spiroheterocycles via tandem Rh(II)-catalyzed O–H insertion/base-promoted cyclization involving diazoarylidene succinimides

• Alexander Yanovich,
• Anastasia Vepreva,
• Ksenia Malkova,
• Grigory Kantin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 561–569, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.48

• modern drug design [1][2]. They are known to promote higher success rates, when targeting three-dimensional protein molecules [3][4]. Furthermore, a wide variety of spirocyclic fragments can be spotted in natural products [5]. The aspects mentioned unveil the development of synthetic methodologies

• ], drospirenone (exhibits high affinity to progesterone receptors and is used as a birth control medication) [26][27], griseofulvin (an antifungal agent used to treat fungal infections of the fingernails and toes) [28], as well as oliceridine (a selective G protein-biased μ-opioid receptor agonist used for

Synthesis and biological profile of 2,3-dihydro[1,3]thiazolo[4,5-b]pyridines, a novel class of acyl-ACP thioesterase inhibitors

• Jens Frackenpohl,
• David M. Barber,
• Guido Bojack,
• Birgit Bollenbach-Wahl,
• Ralf Braun,
• Rahel Getachew,
• Sabine Hohmann,
• Kwang-Yoon Ko,
• Karoline Kurowski,
• Bernd Laber,
• Rebecca L. Mattison,
• Thomas Müller,
• Anna M. Reingruber,
• Dirk Schmutzler and
• Andrea Svejda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 540–551, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.46

• with emphasis on the structural diversity of small-molecule ligands. In this context, acyl-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) thioesterase inhibitors have shown a remarkable variability. Fatty acid thioesterase (FAT) enzymes represent a family of proteins exclusively found in higher plants. They mediate

• binding affinity to enzyme targets, e.g., acyl-ACP thioesterases, belonging to the protein family of FATs, was demonstrated by using co-crystallization, fluorescence-based thermal shift assays, and chemoproteomics techniques [3]. Likewise, methiozolin (2) is a recently assigned FAT inhibitor that has

• A protein was expressed in E. coli BL21Star(DE3) cells. 5 mL of an overnight culture of E. coli cells grown in LB medium with 100 µg/mL carbenicillin were used to inoculate 0.5 L of autoinduction medium containing 100 µg/mL carbenicillin [28]. The bacteria were grown at 37 °C and 120 rpm for about

Switchable molecular tweezers: design and applications

• Pablo Msellem,
• Maksym Dekthiarenko,
• Nihal Hadj Seyd and
• Guillaume Vives

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 504–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.45

Development of a chemical scaffold for inhibiting nonribosomal peptide synthetases in live bacterial cells

• Fumihiro Ishikawa,
• Sho Konno,
• Hideaki Kakeya and
• Genzoh Tanabe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 445–451, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.39

• arm in an adjacent peptidyl carrier protein (PCP). The amino acid loaded on the PCP then undergoes coupling with the amino acid loaded on the downstream PCP in the condensation (C) domain. Finally, the linear peptide on the PCP in the last module is either hydrolyzed or cyclized by a thioesterase (TE

• differences in the composition of cell membranes and presence of efflux pumps [9]. Specific protein labeling using a chemical probe can help to identify, characterize, and visualize target proteins [10][11]. The first chemical probe used for A-domains in NRPSs was reported by Marahiel et al. [8]. They

• previously described an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) strategy for NRPSs using ABPs that target A-domains (Figure 2b) [13][14][15]. The probes comprise an aminoacyl-AMS ligand and a photoaffinity group with clickable alkyne functionality appended to the 2′-OH group of adenosine. A complex structure