Seminar Series Fall 2006

November 20^th, 2006

Irina Ramos

Research Developed during summer 2006 at WYETH (Pearl River, NY) in the Department of Natural Product Discovery and Discovery Analytical Chemistry.

Title: Biotransformation Studies on Aureothin

Abstract:

Microorganisms and plants synthesize a tremendous diversity of chemical compounds. The still largely unexplored structural and chemical diversity of natural products is unmatched by synthetic methodology and continues to be the most successful source for the discovery of novel scaffolds with important biological activities. Still, living organisms remain an important source and production means for useful compounds where chemical synthesis is difficult or less desirable. Thus, exploiting the selectivity and specificity of the biosynthetic machineries that make these complex compounds can provide ways of synthesizing diverse natural products or their core scaffolds for further synthetic modification.

The emergence of molecular biology has transformed the basis of natural product discovery and production. Protein engineering and directed evolution is also utilized to improve natural product yields.

Rather than creation of novel structures by altering pathways or construction of new pathways, future prospects for modification of natural products may rely on modification of the core structure either in vitro, or in vivo via biotransformation.

In this work it will be described a study of a natural product, Aureothin, biosynthesis. Aureothin is a natural product that presents very interesting properties such as weak cytotoxic, antifungal and antiviral activities and cystostatic properties; which make this compound a potential anticancer product.