Genomics-Driven Discovery of Benzoxazole Alkaloids from the Marine-Derived <i>Micromonospora</i> sp. SCSIO 07395

Abstract

Benzoxazole alkaloids exhibit a diverse array of structures and interesting biological activities. Herein we report the identification of a benzoxazole alkaloid-encoding biosynthetic gene cluster (mich BGC) in the marine-derived actinomycete Micromonospora sp. SCSIO 07395 and the heterologous expression of this BGC in Streptomyces albus. This approach led to the discovery of five new benzoxazole alkaloids microechmycin A–E (1–5), and a previously synthesized compound 6. Their structures were elucidated by HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR data. Microechmycin A (1) showed moderate antibacterial activity against Micrococcus luteus SCSIO ML01 with the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 8 μg mL−1.

Keywords

• benzoxazole alkaloids
• genome mining
• heterologous expression
• <i>Micromonospora</i> sp.
• marine natural products