Isolation and synthesis of tryptamine derivatives from a symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophilus PC

Abstract

Nematophin and its analog incorporating tryptamine unit have been isolated and characterized from strain XR-PC of a symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophilus, which was newly isolated from Korean entomopathogenic nematodes. The stereoselective synthesis of these compounds was accomplished, and the relative configurations were determined. Nematophin exhibited potent antibacterial activities over several strains of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) comparable to those of vancomycin.