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Biodiscovery Downunder: New Discoveries in Natural Products Chemistry

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 13229

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Robert John Capon

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Guest Editor

Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Interests: biodiscovery; marine and microbial natural products chemistry; biomimetic synthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will feature original articles and reviews on the chemistry of natural products sourced from marine and terrestrial biodiversity, including plants and algae, animals, invertebrates and insects, as well as microbes. Research articles will cover such topics as detection, production, dereplication, prioritization, isolation, spectroscopic and chemical characterisation, structure elucidation, biosynthesis, synthesis, and biological properties. Reviews can range across many topics in natural products science, including the diversity of novel structure classes and functionality, geographic and taxonomic distribution, chemical ecology, biological properties, biosynthesis and synthesis, and extending to applications in medicine, animal health, and crop and environmental protection. This Special Issue is an opportunity to celebrate the scope of new discoveries made in the field of natural products chemistry.

Prof. Dr. Robert John Capon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

natural products
bacteria
novel scaffolds and functionality
structure elucidation
biosynthesis
chemical properties
biological properties

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 1955 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Taipan Natriuretic Peptides Are Potent and Selective Agonists for the Natriuretic Peptide Receptor A

by Simone Vink, Kalyana Bharati Akondi, Jean Jin, Kim Poth, Allan M. Torres, Philip W. Kuchel, Sandra L. Burke, Geoffrey A. Head and Paul F. Alewood

Molecules 2023, 28(7), 3063; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules28073063 - 29 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1295

Abstract

Cardiovascular ailments are a major cause of mortality where over 1.3 billion people suffer from hypertension leading to heart-disease related deaths. Snake venoms possess a broad repertoire of natriuretic peptides with therapeutic potential for treating hypertension, congestive heart failure, and related cardiovascular disease. We now describe several taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) natriuretic peptides TNPa-e which stimulated cGMP production through the natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A) with higher potencies for the rat NPR-A (rNPR-A) over human NPR-A (hNPR-A). TNPc and TNPd were the most potent, demonstrating 100- and 560-fold selectivity for rNPR-A over hNPR-A. In vivo studies found that TNPc decreased diastolic and systolic blood pressure (BP) and increased heart rate (HR) in conscious normotensive rabbits, to a level that was similar to that of human atrial natriuretic peptide (hANP). TNPc also enhanced the bradycardia due to cardiac afferent stimulation (Bezold–Jarisch reflex). This indicated that TNPc possesses the ability to lower blood pressure and facilitate cardiac vagal afferent reflexes but unlike hANP does not produce tachycardia. The 3-dimensional structure of TNPc was well defined within the pharmacophoric disulfide ring, displaying two turn-like regions (RMSD = 1.15 Å). Further, its much greater biological stability together with its selectivity and potency will enhance its usefulness as a biological tool. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiscovery Downunder: New Discoveries in Natural Products Chemistry)

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18 pages, 1712 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chrysosporazines Revisited: Regioisomeric Phenylpropanoid Piperazine P-Glycoprotein Inhibitors from Australian Marine Fish-Derived Fungi

by Amila Agampodi Dewa, Zeinab G. Khalil, Ahmed H. Elbanna and Robert J. Capon

Molecules 2022, 27(10), 3172; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27103172 - 16 May 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2601

Abstract

A library of fungi previously recovered from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of several fresh, commercially sourced Australian mullet fish was re-profiled for production of a rare class of phenylpropanoid piperazine alkaloids (chrysosporazines) using an integrated platform of; (i) miniaturized 24-well plate cultivation profiling (MATRIX), (ii) UPLC-DAD and UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS (GNPS) chemical profiling, and; (iii) precursor directed biosynthesis to manipulate in situ biosynthetic performance and outputs; to detect two new fungal producers of chrysosporazines. Chemical analysis of an optimized PDA solid phase cultivation of Aspergillus sp. CMB-F661 yielded the new regioisomeric chrysosporazine T (1) and U (2), while precursor directed cultivation amplified production and yielded the very minor new natural products azachrysosporazine T1 (3) and U1 (4), and the new unnatural analogues neochrysosporazine R (5) and S (6). Likewise, chemical analysis of an optimized M1 solid phase cultivation of Spiromastix sp. CMB-F455 lead to the GNPS detection of multiple chrysosporazines and brasiliamides, and the isolation and structure elucidation of chrysosporazine D (7) and brasiliamide A (8). Access to new chrysosporazine regioisomers facilitated structure activity relationship investigations to better define the chrysosporazine P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitory pharmacophore, which is exceptionally potent at reversing doxorubrin resistance in P-gp over expressing colon carcinoma cells (SW600 Ad300). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiscovery Downunder: New Discoveries in Natural Products Chemistry)

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15 pages, 2098 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Australian Honeypot Ant (Camponotus inflatus) Honey—A Comprehensive Analysis of the Physiochemical Characteristics, Bioactivity, and HPTLC Profile of a Traditional Indigenous Australian Food

by Md Khairul Islam, Ivan Lozada Lawag, Tomislav Sostaric, Edie Ulrich, Danny Ulrich, Terrence Dewar, Lee Yong Lim and Cornelia Locher

Molecules 2022, 27(7), 2154; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27072154 - 27 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6781

Abstract

Despite its cultural and nutritional importance for local Aboriginal people, the unusual insect honey produced by Western Australian honeypot ant (Camponotus inflatus) has to date been rarely investigated. This study reports on the honey’s physicochemical properties, its total phenolic, major sugars and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural contents, and its antioxidant activities. The honey’s color value is 467.63 mAU/63.39 mm Pfund, it has a pH of 3.85, and its electric conductivity is 449.71 µSiemens/cm. Its Brix value is 67.00, corresponding to a 33% moisture content. The total phenolics content is 19.62 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g honey. Its antioxidant activity measured using the DPPH* (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and FRAP (ferric reducing–antioxidant power) assays is 1367.67 µmol Trolox/kg and 3.52 mmol Fe⁺²/kg honey, respectively. Major sugars in the honey are glucose and fructose, with a fructose-to-glucose ratio of 0.85. Additionally, unidentified sugar was found in minor quantities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiscovery Downunder: New Discoveries in Natural Products Chemistry)

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Review

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40 pages, 5436 KiB

Open AccessReview

Marine Natural Products from Flora and Fauna of the Western Australian Coast: Taxonomy, Isolation and Biological Activity

by Samuele Sala, Scott K. Micke and Gavin R. Flematti

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1452; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules28031452 - 02 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1621

Abstract

Marine natural products occurring along the Western Australian coastline are the focus of this review. Western Australia covers one-third of the Australian coast, from tropical waters in the far north of the state to cooler temperate and Antarctic waters in the south. Over 40 years of research has resulted in the identification of a number of different types of secondary metabolites including terpenoids, alkaloids, polyketides, fatty acid derivatives, peptides and arsenic-containing natural products. Many of these compounds have been reported to display a variety of bioactivities. A description of the compound classes and their associated bioactivities from marine organisms found along the Western Australian coastline is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiscovery Downunder: New Discoveries in Natural Products Chemistry)

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