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Herboxidiene suppresses breast cancer cell migration

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J Zhang and coworkers at Leiden University Med Ctr have shown that a splice variant of the ubiquitin specific protease, USP19-CY, can enhance the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as well as migration and extravasation of breast cancer cells. They then showed that the microbial metabolite and splicing modulator herboxidiene suppressed levels of USP19-CY and inhibited breast …

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Anti-cancer Activity of Fungal Metabolite

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In a paper just out in Phytomedicine, HG Kim and coworkers describe the in vitro anti-cancer activity of Beauvericin, an antimicrobial metabolite from the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Beauvericin inhibited cell viability in C6 glioma, U251, MDA-MB-231, HeLa, HCT-15 and LoVo cancer cell lines. C6 glioma cells underwent dose-dependent caspase-3 and -9 activation followed by membrane …

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Apoptolidin mechanism of action uncovered

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Apoptolidin is a novel microbial natural product isolated from Nocardiopsis sp. It was shown to be a powerful inducer of apoptosis in a variety of cancer cell lines, distinguished by its selectivity towards oncogene-transformed cells, but its exact mechanism of action was unknown. Recently BJ Reisman and coworkers at the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology …

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Chemogenetic Technology Progress

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In a recent paper in Nature, Bryan Roth et al. revealed detailed features in the recognition of DREADD actuators by designer receptors. Muscarinic DREADDs or designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs, are the most widely used chemogenetic tools in neuroscience research. One of the most commonly employed DREADD actuators is clozapine N-oxide.

Mitophagy news

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Urolithin A is a microbial metabolite of dietary ellagitannins produced in the gut. It has been shown to induce mitophagy and prolong lifespan in C. elegans and increase muscle function in rodents. See D’Amico et al. and Luan et al.

Filipin III for Cholesterol Research

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Filipin III is a microbial natural product isolated from Streptomyces filipinensis. It is an important fluorescent probe for cellular cholesterol detection. In addition, because it binds to cholesterol it is used to disrupt lipid rafts in cells (T Hayashi for a recent example). Cholesterol plays important roles in membrane trafficking, lipid metabolism, and diseases such …

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Sinefungin in Antiviral Research

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Two recent papers employed Sinefungin in determination of the structure of two different viral methyltransferases. Sinefungin is a Streptomyces natural product analog of S-adenosylmethionine acting as a MTase inhibitor. In an Antiviral Research paper by DS Ferrero and coworkers, the Usutu virus MTase domain was cocrystalized with Sinefungin. In another paper by Kottur and coworkers …

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