Natural Products from Blue-Green Algae (Chemistry)

有机和大分子计划正在支持有关从蓝藻中生产化学物质的研究，蓝藻具有重要和不同寻常的生物学特性。这些微生物位于海洋系统食物链的底部附近，因此对海洋中的生命进程产生了强烈的影响。这些生物产生的次生化合物往往对其他物种有很强的影响。这项研究的目的是识别这些化学物质，并试图了解生产生物是如何合成这种不寻常的化合物的。该项目的第一个主要目标是分离和鉴定在养殖的蓝藻中发现的不寻常的、具有生物活性的天然产物。到目前为止，研究主要集中在陆地生态系统中发现的快速生长、相对丰富的蓝藻，主要属于念珠目。这项研究的重点是生长较慢、较罕见的蓝藻，特别是那些在海洋环境中发现的蓝藻，以寻找新的线索。对迄今为止培养的具有广泛药理和农化活性的蓝藻提取物进行筛选表明，这些原核微生物是新商业产品的良好来源。人们对蓝藻中次生代谢物的化学知之甚少。已有的许多人工培养蓝藻提取物具有有趣的杀菌、杀藻、抗病毒等活性。这项研究关注的是研究与这些活动有关的天然产物。该项目的第二个研究领域是研究蓝藻中天然产物的生物合成。目前正在对到目前为止分离出来的几类潜在的重要化合物进行研究，例如Hapalindoles和Skytophycins。

The Organic and Macromolecular Program is supporting research dealing with the production of chemicals from blue-green algae that exhibit important and unusual biological properties. These microorganisms lie near the bottom of the food chain in marine systems, and, therefore, exert a strong effect on the course of life in the oceans. The secondary compounds produced by these organisms often have strong effects on other species. This research is aimed at identifying these chemicals and attempting to understand how the producing organisms go about synthesizing such unusual chemical compounds. The first major aim of this project is to isolate and identify unusual, bioactive natural products that are found in cultured blue-green algae. Research to date has concentrated mainly on the rapid-growing, relatively abundant cyanophytes found in terrestrial ecosystems and belonging predominantly to the Nostocales. This research is focusing on the slower-growing and rarer blue-green algae, particularly those found in marine environments, for new leads. Screening of extracts of the blue-green algae cultured to date for a wide range of pharmacological and agrochemical activities indicates that these prokaryotic microorganisms represent a good source of new commerical products. Relatively little is known about the chemistry of secondary metabolites in blue-green algae. Many extracts of cultured cyanophytes already on hand show interesting fungicidal, algicidal, antiviral, and other activities. This research is concerned with studying the natural products that are responsible for these activities. The second area of research in this project is the study of the biosynthesis of natural products found in blue-green algae. Studies are being carried out on several potentially important classes of compounds that have been isolated to date, such as the hapalindoles and scytophycins.