Bioactive hydroxyphenylpyrrole-dicarboxylic acids from a new marine Halomonas sp.: production and structure elucidation

The new marine Halomonas sp. strain GWS-BW-H8hM (DSM 17996) was found to produce 3-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenylpyrrole-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (HPPD-1) and 3,4-bis(4′-hydroxy- phenyl)pyrrole-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (HPPD-2). In initial cultivations using marine broth, only low contents of these compounds have been isolated. Improving the conditions and growing the strain on artificial seawater supplemented with tryptone 10 g l−1, yeast extract 5 g l−1, l-tyrosine 0.6 g l−1, glycine 1 g l−1, and glucose 6 g l-1, the growth-associated HPPD-1 and HPPD-2 production of a 40-l batch cultivation reached the amounts of 47 mg l−1 and 116 mg l−1, respectively, after 65 h. Both compounds showed potent anti-tumor-promoting activities.