Neoviridogrisein II

Our isolate of Streptomyces griseoviridus, which produced three minor factors in addition to viridogrisein and griseoviridus, which produced three minor factors in addition to viridogrisein and griseoviridin, was more sensitive to the addition of L-proline than the type culture of Streptomyces griseoviridus (NRRL2427). Yield improvement of these minor factors was attempted by the so-called controlled biosynthesis with L-proline. Addition of L-proline increased the production of neoviridogrisein II in which allo-hydroxy-D-proline in viridogrisein was replaced by D-proline.

Neoviridogrisein II is a homologue of viridogrisein in which the hydroxyproline residue is replaced by proline. Neoviridogrisein II proved to be more active than the parent antibiotic against Gram-positive bacteria and Mycoplasma species. When neoviridogrisein II or viridogrisein was combined with griseoviridin, a non-peptidyl macrocyclic lactone, synergism was observed: maximum synergistic effect was observed for a combination ratio that depended on the test bacterium used. Neoviridogrisein II also exerted synergism when combined with mikamycin A and A-2315A.

LC-MS and LC-MS/MS analyses indicated that an enzyme responsible for inactivating the antibiotic etamycin is specific for streptogramins and acts on both type B-I and B-II streptogramin subgroups. No enzymatic activity was detected for other cyclodepsipeptides such as surfactins and viscosin. It was demonstrated using analogs of etamycin that the picolinyl moiety is essential to obtain enzyme-generated ring-opened compounds. Because the picolinyl moiety is also essential for the biological activity of streptogramins, it is proposed that this residue is a distinctive topographic feature in the binding of this group of antibiotics to enzyme active sites.