NMR-Metabolomic Profiling and Genome Mining Drive the Discovery of Cyclic Decapeptides from a Marine Streptomyces

Abstract

The integration of NMR-metabolomic and genomic analyses can provide enhanced identification of structural properties as well as key biosynthetic information, thus achieving the targeted discovery of new natural products. For this purpose, NMR-based metabolomic profiling of the marine-derived Streptomyces sp. S063 (CGMCC 14582) was performed, by which N-methylated peptides possessing unusual negative ¹H NMR chemical shift values were tracked. Meanwhile, genome mining of this strain revealed the presence of an unknown NRPS gene cluster (len) with piperazic-acid-encoding genes (lenE and lenF). Under the guidance of the combined information, two cyclic decapeptides, lenziamides D1 (1) and B1 (2), were isolated from Streptomyces sp. S063, which contains piperazic acids with negative ¹H NMR values. The structures of 1 and 2 were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis combined with Marfey’s method and ECD calculations. Furthermore, we provided a detailed model of lenziamide (1 and 2) biosynthesis in Streptomyces sp. S063. In the cytotoxicity evaluation, 1 and 2 showed moderate growth inhibition against the human cancer cells HEL, H1975, H1299, and drug-resistant A549–taxol with IC₅₀ values of 8–24 μM.