title: Microbial metabolism of steviol and steviol-16alpha,17-epoxide.
abstract: Steviol (2) possesses a blood glucose-lowering property. In order to produce potentially more- or less-active, toxic, or inactive metabolites compared to steviol (2), its microbial metabolism was investigated. Incubation of 2 with the microorganisms Bacillus megaterium ATCC 14581, Mucor recurvatus MR 36, and Aspergillus niger BCRC 32720 yielded one new metabolite, ent-7alpha,11beta,13-trihydroxykaur-16-en-19-oic acid (7), together with four known related biotransformation products, ent-7alpha,13-dihydroxykaur-16-en-19-oic acid (3), ent-13-hydroxykaur-16-en-19-alpha-d-glucopyranosyl ester (4), ent-13,16beta,17-trihydroxykauran-19-oic acid (5), and ent-13-hydroxy-7-ketokaur-16-en-19-oic acid (6). The preliminary testing of antihyperglycemic effects showed that 5 was more potent than the parent compound (2). Thus, the microbial metabolism of steviol-16alpha,17-epoxide (8) with M. recurvatus MR 36 was continued to produce higher amounts of 5 for future study of its action mechanism. Preparative-scale fermentation of 8 yielded 5, ent-11alpha,13,16alpha,17-tetrahydroxykauran-19-oic acid (10), ent-1beta,17-dihydroxy-16-ketobeyeran-19-oic acid (11), and ent-7alpha,17-dihydroxy-16-ketobeyeran-19-oic acid (13), together with three new metabolites: ent-13,16beta-dihydroxykauran-17-acetoxy-19-oic acid (9), ent-11beta,13-dihydroxy-16beta,17-epoxykauran-19-oic acid (12), and ent-11beta,13,16beta,17-tetrahydroxykauran-19-oic acid (14). The structures of the compounds were fully elucidated using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques, as well as HRFABMS. In addition, a GRE (glucocorticoid responsive element)-mediated luciferase reporter assay was used to initially screen the compounds 3-5, and 7 as glucocorticoid agonists. Compounds 4, 5 and 7 showed significant effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Feng-Lin
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Shwu-Fen
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Juei-Tang
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Ju-Yin
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Chung-Yi
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Pan-Chun
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shwu-Jiuan
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000378:metabolism; D001410:Bacillus megaterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D001711:Biotransformation; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D045786:Diterpenes, Kaurane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009089:Mucor / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; D045786:Diterpenes, Kaurane; C515259:steviol-16alpha,17-epoxide; C012042:steviol