Small molecules from the sea: models for innovative antimicrobial agents

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing health issues of our days. The marine environment has proven to be a very rich source of diverse natural products with broad-spectra of biologically activities being a very helpful resource in the search for novel antimicrobial compounds. These structurally distinct molecules are revealing promising biological activities against a very large number of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria and fungi, catching marine natural products attention in the discovery of new antimicrobial agents. Inspired by antimicrobial lichen xanthones [1] and fungi-derived alkaloids, two series of marine natural products mimics were prepared. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity. Both series produced interesting compounds active against E. faecalis (ATCC 29212 and 29213) and S. aureus (ATCC 29213) with some synthetic alkaloids being active against a MRSA strain. Some revealed a potent fungistatic and fungicidal activity against dermatophytes clinical strains (T. rubrum, M. canis, and E. floccosum). These results highlight the potential of marine natural products as a source of new antimicrobial agents to revert resistance. [1] D. I. S. P. Resende, P. Pereira-Terra, Â. S. Inacio, P. M. Costa, E. Pinto, E. Sousa, M. M. M. Pinto. Lichen Xanthones as Models for New Antifungal Agents. Molecules 2018, 23, 2617; doi:10.3390/molecules23102617 Acknowledgments: This work was partially supported through national funds provided by FCT/MCTES—Foundation for Science and Technology from the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (PIDDAC) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE—Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC) programme, under the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013, the projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028736 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016790 (PTDC/MAR-BIO/4694/2014; 3599-PPCDT) in the framework of the programme PT2020, as well as by the project INNOVMAR—Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources (reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035, within Research Line NOVELMAR), supported by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Solida Long thanks Erasmus Mundus Action 2 (LOTUS+, LP15DF0205) for full PhD scholarship. Diana I. S. P. Resende also acknowledge for her grant (NOVELMAR/BPD_2/2016-019) and Patricia Pereira-Terra for her grant (NOVELMAR/BPD/2017/012).