Anominine

Aspergillus burnettii is a new species belonging to the A. alliaceus clade in Aspergillus subgenus Circumdati section Flavi isolated from peanut-growing properties in southern Queensland, Australia. A. burnettii is a fast-growing, floccose fungus with distinctive brown conidia and is a talented producer of biomass-degrading enzymes and secondary metabolites. Chemical profiling of A. burnettii revealed the metabolites ochratoxin A, kotanins, isokotanins, asperlicin E, anominine and paspalinine, which are common to subgenus Circumdati, together with burnettiene A, burnettramic acids, burnettides, and high levels of 14α-hydroxypaspalinine and hirsutide. The genome of A. burnettii was sequenced and an annotated draft genome is presented. A. burnettii is rich in secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, containing 51 polyketide synthases, 28 non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and 19 genes related to terpene biosynthesis. Functional annotation of digestive enzymes of A. burnettii and A. alliaceus revealed overlapping carbon utilisation profiles, consistent with a close phylogenetic relationship.

The first total synthesis of anominine has been achieved, and the absolute configuration of the product has been determined. The key features include the development of a new, highly efficient organocatalyzed method for the asymmetric synthesis of Wieland-Miescher ketone building blocks, an unusual selenoxide [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, and a ZrCl(4)-catalyzed indole coupling as well as several chemoselective transformations controlled by the structurally congested nature of the bicyclic core.

A highly congested decalin embodying an alpha-methylene ketone is synthesized in 11 steps from the Wieland-Miescher ketone and efficiently converted to the polycyclic frameworks of anominine and tubingensin A, which constitutes the first approach to the skeleton of these indole diterpenoids.