Automated Analyses of HPLC Profiles of Microbial Extracts

Abstract

Despite the fact that natural products have historically been a prolific source of new compounds, pharmaceutical drug discovery programs have moved away from natural products in favor of synthetic approaches. However, the abundance of synthetic compounds with similar functional groups and, therefore, limited chemical diversity has renewed interest in nature as a good resource for finding new ideas to be applied to the design of the next generation of drugs. One of the main issues for drug discovery programs based on microbial natural products is how to obtain the maximum potential from microbial strains in terms of chemical diversity of the metabolites produced. Several approaches are now available for enhancing the production and diversity of secondary metabolites from wild-type microorganisms. Automated comparisons of the metabolite profiles of microorganisms can be used as a valuable method for building libraries of natural products for drug discovery. Specific computer analyses of high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms from organic extracts of fermented microorganisms can be used as a tool for increasing chemical diversity of collections, media improvement, evaluation of natural products libraries, and even determination of taxonomic correlations. Examples of what can be done using some of the new generation of software tools to compare profiles of secondary metabolites include the evaluation of extraction solvents and fermentation formats for the design of natural-product collections, and even the determination of relationships among strains from different origins.