Marie Cote, Deputy Editor – Page 4 – Natural Products Blog

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Welcome to the Structural Aspects of Biosynthesis themed issue!

14 Sep 2012

Welcome to NPR issue 10, 2012

As an NPR reader, you will surely have noticed the numerous and exciting structural biosynthesis related articles that have appeared in the journal recently…

Well, now is time to unveil the full themed issue entitled ‘Structural Aspects of Biosynthesis‘ , where you will find all of these articles grouped together for an intellectual feast.

Guest edited by Profs Sheryl Tsai (UC Irvine, USA), Bradley Moore (UC San Diego, USA) and Sarah O’Connor (John Innes Center, UK), read their Editorial for an introduction to the issue.

Featuring 11 Reviews by leaders in their fields, the issue covers:

Polyketide synthases
Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases
Plant natural product biosynthesis
Structural progress of bacterial enzymes in biosynthesis
P450 enzymes for natural product modification, towards metabolic engineering

Janet L. Smith et al. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) have designed the artwork featuring on the cover of the issue, illustrating their review on the structural biology of marine polyketide synthases. The cover article will be FREE to access for a period of 6 weeks:

Insights from the sea: Structural biology of marine polyketide synthases
David L. Akey, Jennifer J. Gehret, Dheeraj Khare and Janet L. Smith
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 1038-1049
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20016C

We hope you enjoy the issue!

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Also, why not view our previous thematic collections? Access all NPR themed issues here.

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7800 new natural product compounds in ChemSpider

30 Aug 2012

Do you know about Natural Product Updates?

Natural Product Updates (NPU) gives you the molecules involved in key developments in natural product chemistry. Thanks to our work in interpreting what chemists mean, not just what chemists draw, ChemSpider now links to NPU’s data for 13800 natural products since 2005, of which 7800 are brand new to ChemSpider.

Where ChemSpider has information on a compound in NPU you will see the image above, as in, for example, calothrixin B. This is a link to NPU page on the RSC Publishing Platform.

Soon we’ll be integrating more of our graphical databases into ChemSpider. Watch this space!

Want to know more about ChemSpider?

Read all about the free chemical structure database providing fast search access to over 26 million structures from hundreds of data sources, and follow the latest news and development on the ChemSpider blog.

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Directing Bioysynthesis III – deadline approaching

28 Aug 2012

It’s your last chance to register for Directing Biosynthesis III – by the deadline date of Friday 31 August.

Natural products continue to underpin the developments of new medicines and agrochemicals. Their biosynthesis and role in the environment are increasingly well understood at ecological, chemical, biochemical, and genetic levels and their discovery and exploitation remain key objectives of academics and companies. Significant opportunities exist for engineering biosynthetic pathways in bacteria, fungi and plants for the directed biosynthesis of new natural products with new and beneficial properties.

We are delighted to announce that a special symposium will take place within the Directing Biosynthesis III programme, recognising the achievements of three RSC award winners of 2011. Each of the winners will give a keynote lecture within the symposium:

Professor Jim Naismith, University of St Andrews, UK
Member of Collaborative Computational Project 4 – STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (CCP4)
Winners of the Rita and John Cornforth Award 2011

Professor Chris Schofield, University of Oxford, UK
Winner of the Jeremy Knowles Award 2011

Dr David R Spring, University of Cambridge, UK
Winner of the Norman Heatley Award 2011

So join them to be a part of this highly topical conference featuring contributions from the most active groups in the UK, Europe, the USA and Japan working in the rapidly developing area of directed biosynthesis of new natural products.

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Natural Products in OBC: our latest selection

22 Aug 2012

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, our sister journal, publishes many articles that cover a variety of natural product chemistry.

We try to keep you updated here, although your best bet is for you to sign up to OBC’s e-alert (free service), and receive the tables of content directly in your inbox every time an issue is published.

The latest natural products’ related articles have been collated here:

Enantioselective approach to functionalized quinolizidines: synthesis of (+)-julandine and (+)-cryptople urine
Sunil V. Pansare and Rajendar Dyapa

Diverted organic synthesis (DOS): accessing a new, natural product inspired, neurotrophically active scaffold through an intramolecular Pauson–Khand reaction
Goverdhan Mehta, Ramesh Samineni, Pabbaraja Srihari, R. Gajendra Reddy and Sumana Chakravarty

First total synthesis of dioxepine bastadin 3
Santiago Pérez-Rodríguez, Raquel Pereira-Cameselle and Ángel R. de Lera

Enantio- and diastereocontrolled conversion of chiral epoxides to trans-cyclopropane carboxylates: application to the synthesis of cascarillic acid, grenadamide and L-(−)-CCG-II
Pradeep Kumar, Abhishek Dubey and Anand Harbindu

An approach to aliphatic 1,8-stereocontrol: diastereoselective syntheses of (±)-patulolide C and (±)-epipatulolide
C E. Kate Hoegenauer and Eric J. Thomas

Mutual influence of backbone proline substitution and lipophilic tail character on the biological activity of simplified analogues of caspofungin
Monique P. C. Mulder, Peter Fodran, Johan Kemmink, Eefjan J. Breukink, John A. W. Kruijtzer, Adriaan J. Minnaard and Rob M. J. Liskamp

Concerted, highly asynchronous, enzyme-catalyzed [4 + 2] cycloaddition in the biosynthesis of spinosyn A; computational evidence
B. Andes Hess and Lidia Smentek

Diastereoselective construction of syn-α-oxyamines via three-component α-oxyaldehyde–dibenzylamine–alkyne coupling reaction: application in the synthesis of (+)-β-conhydrine and its analogues
Sharad Chandrakant Deshmukh, Arundhati Roy and Pinaki Talukdar

Syntheses of mycobactin analogs as potent and selective inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Raúl E. Juárez-Hernández, Scott G. Franzblau and Marvin J. Miller

Also of interest: Have you read the Natural Products themed issue from MedChemComm?

Guest edited by Professor Christopher Walsh and Dr Sylvie Garneau-Tsdodikova, the issue contains some of the newest discoveries in the field, along with 9 review articles that will lead the reader through exciting natural products research. Let us know what you think!

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Sucrose analogues for glycodiversification on the cover of NPR issue 9

10 Aug 2012

Welcome to Natural Product Reports Issue 9, 2012

NPR‘s cover this month features artwork by Isabelle Andre et al. that illustrates their review article covering the main biological routes to sucrose derivatives or analogs that are prevalent in nature. The review also higlights the potential applications of sucrose derivatives in sugar bioconversion, in particular through the engineering of substrates, enzymes or microorganisms.

Sucrose analogs: an attractive (bio)source for glycodiversification
David Daudé, Magali Remaud-Siméon and Isabelle André
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20054F

Enjoy FREE access to this article for the next 6 weeks upon a simple registration process.

Also in this September issue, we trust you will find the following reviews intersting and stimulating to read. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!

The nonribosomal synthesis of diketopiperazines in tRNA-dependent cyclodipeptide synthase pathways
Pascal Belin, Mireille Moutiez, Sylvie Lautru, Jérôme Seguin, Jean-Luc Pernodet and Muriel Gondry
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20010D

Isolation, biological activity, synthesis, and medicinal chemistry of the pederin/mycalamide family of natural products
R. Adam Mosey and Paul E. Floreancig
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20052J

Lasso peptides: structure, function, biosynthesis, and engineering
Mikhail O. Maksimov, Si Jia Pan and A. James Link
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20070H

Plants as sources of new antimicrobials and resistance-modifying agents
Ana Cristina Abreu, Andrew J. McBain and Manuel Simões
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20035J

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Our selection of Natural Products in OBC and MedChemComm

26 Jul 2012

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, our sister journal, publishes many articles that cover a variety of natural product chemistry.

The latest natural products’ related articles have been collated here:

Chemoenzymatic synthesis, structural study and biological activity of novel indolizidine and quinolizidine iminocyclitols
Livia Gómez, Xavier Garrabou, Jesús Joglar, Jordi Bujons, Teodor Parella, Cristina Vilaplana, Pere Joan Cardona and Pere Clapés

Synthesis of the O-linked hexasaccharide containing β-D-Galf-(1→2)-β-D-Galf in Trypanosoma cruzi mucins
Gustavo A. Kashiwagi, Verónica M. Mendoza, Rosa M. de Lederkremer and Carola Gallo-Rodriguez

Modification in the side chain of solomonsterol A: discovery of cholestan disulfate as a potent pregnane-X-receptor agonist
Valentina Sepe, Raffaella Ummarino, Maria Valeria D’Auria, Gianluigi Lauro, Giuseppe Bifulco, Claudio D’Amore, Barbara Renga, Stefano Fiorucci and Angela Zampella

Synthesis and biological activity of simplified belactosin C analogues
Armin de Meijere, Vadim S. Korotkov, Alexander V. Lygin, Oleg V. Larionov, Viktor V. Sokolov, Tine Graef and Mazen Es-Sayed

Alkadienyl and alkenyl itaconic acids (ceriporic acids G and H) from the selective white-rot fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora: a new class of metabolites initiating ligninolytic lipid peroxidation
Hiroshi Nishimura, Midori Sasaki, Hirofumi Seike, Masaharu Nakamura and Takashi Watanabe

Asymmetric synthesis of (+)-vertine and (+)-lythrine
Laëtitia Chausset-Boissarie, Roman Àrvai, Graham R. Cumming, Laure Guénée and E. Peter Kündig

Total synthesis and structural elucidation of ent-micropyrone and (+)-ascosalipyrone
Claire Gregg and Michael V. Perkins

Have you read the Natural Products themed issue from MedChemComm? Guest edited by Professor Christopher Walsh and Dr Sylvie Garneau-Tsdodikova, the issue contains some of the newest discoveries in the field, along with 9 review articles that will lead the reader through exciting natural products research. Let us know what you think!

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On the cover this month: The Cephalotaxus genus: a source of alkaloids and terpenoids

13 Jul 2012

Welcome to Natural Product Reports Issue 8, 2012

Featuring on this month’s cover is work by Hajer Abdelkafi and Bastien Nay at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (CNRS-MNHN, Paris, France) on natural products from the Cephalotaxus sp., which belongs to the Cephalotaxaceae family of conifers.

This genus has showed to provide both interesting alkaloids with anticancer potential, and original norditerpene tropones with cytotoxic activity. In this review article the authors present a phytochemical update and discuss the total synthesis of alkaloids and terpenoids in detail.

Natural products from Cephalotaxus sp.: chemical diversity and synthetic aspects
Hajer Abdelkafi and Bastien Nay
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20037F

Why not also read in this issue:

Robert A. Hill and Andrew Sutherland’s Hot off the Press showcasing a personal selection of 32 recent papers covering current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as lycojaponicumin A from Lycopodium japonicum:

Hot off the Press
Robert A. Hill and Andrew Sutherland
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP90024F

Biosynthesis of mycobacterial methylglucose lipopolysaccharides
Vitor Mendes, Ana Maranha, Susana Alarico and Nuno Empadinhas
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20014G

The generation of “unNatural” products: Synthetic biology meets synthetic chemistry
Rebecca J. M. Goss, Sreejith Shankar and Antoine Abou Fayad
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP00001F

Diterpenoids of terrestrial origin
James R. Hanson
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20051A

Strained cyclophane natural products: Macrocyclization at its limits
Tanja Gulder and Phil S. Baran
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20034A

Like what you read? If you would like to contribute an article to NPR, please contact the editorial office with a proposed topic and we will be pleased to evaluate your synopsis.

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Natural Products in OBC 10th Anniversary issue

11 Jul 2012

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, our sister journal, publishes many articles that cover a variety of natural product chemistry, and its 10th Anniversary issue is no exception!

Here is our selection of the latest Natural Products‘ related articles from OBC Anniversary issue 30:

Methylthioxylose – a jewel in the mycobacterial crown?
W. Bruce Turnbull and Susanne A. Stalford
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25630D, Perspective

Photochemical oxazole–nitrile conversion downstream of rhizoxin biosynthesis and its impact on antimitotic activity
Kirstin Scherlach, Nicole Brendel, Keishi Ishida, Hans-Martin Dahse and Christian Hertweck
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25250C, Communication

Synthesis of 1,2,4-triazines and the triazinoisoquinolinedione DEF ring system of noelaquinone
Liming Cao, John P. Maciejewski, Stephan Elzner, David Amantini and Peter Wipf
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25353D, Communication

The stereocontrolled total synthesis of spirastrellolide A methyl ester. Expedient construction of the key fragments
Ian Paterson, Edward A. Anderson, Stephen M. Dalby, Jong Ho Lim, Philip Maltas, Olivier Loiseleur, Julien Genovino and Christian Moessner
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25100K, Paper

The stereocontrolled total synthesis of spirastrellolide A methyl ester. Fragment coupling studies and completion of the synthesis
Ian Paterson, Edward A. Anderson, Stephen M. Dalby, Jong Ho Lim and Philip Maltas
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25101A, Paper

Combined coinage metal catalysis in natural product synthesis: total synthesis of (+)-varitriol and seven analogs
Tao Sun, Carl Deutsch and Norbert Krause
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25069A, Paper

Platinum catalyzed 7-endo cyclization of internal alkynyl amides and its application to synthesis of the caprazamycin core Chihiro Tsukano, Shinsuke Yokouchi, Anne-Lise Girard, Toshifumi Kuribayashi, Shota Sakamoto, Taro Enomoto and Yoshiji Takemoto
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25111F, Paper

Structure, stereochemistry and synthesis of enantiopure cyclohexenone cis-diol bacterial metabolites derived from phenols
Derek R. Boyd, Narain D. Sharma, John F. Malone, Peter B. A. McIntyre, Paul J. Stevenson, Christopher C. R. Allen, Marcin Kwit and Jacek Gawronski
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25079A, Paper

Also of interest is the Natural Products themed issue from MedChemComm, and this OBC blog featuring 10 of the best, most highly cited papers covering natural products from the past 10 years.

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Rare glycosylation of peptides and proteins on the cover of this month’s issue of NPR

22 Jun 2012

Welcome to NPR issue 7, 2012

Richard Daniellou and Pierre Lafite (ICOA, Orleans, France) have designed this issue’s cover, illustrating their review article on rare and unusual glycosylation of peptides and proteins.
Glycosylation represents the most complex co- and post-translational modification of proteins, and the article focuses on the source and nature of rare glycosidic linkages, rare carbohydrates, and the mechanism of glycosyltransferases, providing the reader with a complete overview of this very relevant topic.

Rare and unusual glycosylation of peptides and proteins
Pierre Lafite and Richard Daniellou
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20030A

Also in this issue, we trust you will enjoy:

The isoprenoid-precursor dependence of Plasmodium spp.
Jan-Ytzen van der Meer and Anna K. H. Hirsch
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 721-728

Assessing calcareous sponges and their associated bacteria for the discovery of new bioactive natural products
Mélanie Roué, Elodie Quévrain, Isabelle Domart-Coulon and Marie-Lise Bourguet-Kondracki
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 739-751

Synthetic approaches toward sesterterpenoids
Daniel T. Hog, Robert Webster and Dirk Trauner
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 752-779

Authored by NPR Board Member Dirk Trauner and members of his team, why not view Dirk’s profile on our blog… Read.

Also containing the all time favourite:

Triterpenoids
Robert A. Hill and Joseph D. Connolly
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 780-818

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Directing Biosynthesis III: Last call for oral abstracts – don’t miss out!

09 May 2012

Directing Biosynthesis III (DBIII), 19 – 21 September 2012, University of Nottingham, UK.

LAST CALL FOR ORAL ABSTRACTS – DEADLINE THIS FRIDAY 11TH MAY 2012

Please don’t miss this last opportunity to submit an oral abstract now to be part of a high profile conference featuring contributions from the most active groups in the UK, Europe, the USA and Japan working in this rapidly developing area.

This meeting builds on the two previous extremely successful conferences in a subject area which remains highly topical. As significant opportunities exist for engineering biosynthetic pathways in bacteria, fungi and plants for the directed biosynthesis of new natural products with new and beneficial properties. We expect the programme this year to generate a high profile event that you will not want to miss.

Confirmed Invited speakers:

Ikuro Abe, University of Tokyo, Japan

Mervyn Bibb, John Innes Centre, UK

David W. Christianson, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Christian Hertweck, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Ben Liu, The University of Texas at Austin, USA

Jim Naismith, University of St Andrews, UK

Joern Piel, University of Bonn, Germany

Chris Schofield, University of Oxford, UK

David H Sherman, University of Michigan, USA

David R Spring, University of Cambridge, UK

Tom Simpson, FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Yi Tang, UCLA, USA

NOW CONFIRMED – Craig Townsend, John Hopkins University, USA

A special symposium will take place within the Directing Biosynthesis III programme, recognising the achievements of three 2011 RSC award winners. Each of the winners will give a keynote lecture within the symposium.

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