title: Blasticidin A derivatives with highly specific inhibitory activity toward aflatoxin production in Aspergillus parasiticus.
abstract: Blasticidin A (1), an antibiotic, has strong inhibitory activity toward aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus. We prepared some derivatives of 1 and examined their biological activities. Among them, derivatives 3 and 4 without the tetramic acid moiety of 1 maintained inhibitory activity toward aflatoxin production, but did not show antifungal activity or toxicity. RT-PCR experiments indicated that derivatives 3 and 4 as well as 1 significantly reduced the expression of genes encoding aflatoxin biosynthetic enzymes (pksA, ver-1 and omtA) and a regulatory gene (aflR) in A. parasiticus. These results suggested that derivatives 3 and 4 can inhibit aflatoxin production more specifically than 1 by inhibiting an early step prior to the expression of aflR in the pathway of aflatoxin biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakuda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakurada
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
mesh_terms: D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011760:Pyrrolidinones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016339:Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom Bombardment
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D017931:DNA Primers; D011760:Pyrrolidinones; C420726:blasticidin A