Abstract
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that produce a large diversity of natural products with interesting bioactivities for biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications. Cyanobacterial extracts exhibit toxicity towards other microorganisms and cancer cells and, therefore, represent a source of potentially novel natural products for drug discovery. We tested 62 cyanobacterial strains isolated from various Brazilian biomes for antileukemic and antimicrobial activities. Extracts from 39 strains induced selective apoptosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cancer cell lines. Five of these extracts also exhibited antifungal and antibacterial activities. Chemical and dereplication analyses revealed the production of nine known natural products. Natural products possibly responsible for the observed bioactivities and five unknown, chemically related chlorinated compounds present only in Brazilian cyanobacteria were illustrated in a molecular network. Our results provide new information on the vast biosynthetic potential of cyanobacteria isolated from Brazilian environments.
Highlights
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria commonly found in diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments [1]
Many cyanobacterial natural products are synthesized by non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), polyketide synthase (PKS), or hybrid NRPS-PKS
Brazilian cyanobacteria belonging to 5 different orders and isolated from different biomes showed anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activity
Summary
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria commonly found in diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments [1]. They produce a large range of secondary metabolites (natural products) that are predominantly produced to gain evolutionary advantages, such as adaptation to the surrounding environment or as a defense mechanism, rather than being part of primary metabolism (i.e., growth, development, or reproduction) [2,3,4]. Many cyanobacterial natural products are synthesized by non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), polyketide synthase (PKS), or hybrid NRPS-PKS (NRPS/PKS) [5]. These molecules have diverse applications in pharmacology, biotechnology, and bioenergy production [6,7,8,9]. Cyanobacteria are a promising source of anticancer compounds [20,21]
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