Construction of New Biological Screening System Using Insects and Search for Biologically Active Substances from Natural Sources

最近，果蝇和其他昆虫的免疫反应作为一般先天免疫反应的模型引起了人们的极大兴趣，因为它可能导致对哺乳动物免疫系统的理解和新药的发现。因此，我们利用转基因果蝇构建了一种新的筛选系统，该系统可用于寻找影响先天免疫的化合物。(2)我们研究了细胞黏菌的成分，以阐明其次生代谢物的多样性，并探索可用于开发新药的生物活性物质。从它们的多细胞子实体中，我们分离出了具有多种生物活性的新型α-吡啶类化合物、芳香化合物和氨基糖类似物。

(1) The immune response in Drosophila and other insects has recently received much interest as a model for innate immune reactions in general because it could lead to the understanding of the immune system of mammalians and the discovery of novel drugs. Thus, we constructed the novel screening system using transgenic Drosophila which is useful to search the compounds affecting the innate immunity.(2) We investigated the constituents of cellular slime molds to clarify the diversity of their secondary metabolites and to explore biologically active substances that could be useful for development of novel drugs. From their multicellular fruit bodies, we isolated novel α-pyronoids, aromatics, and amino sugar analogues showing a variety of biological activities.