Three new O-isocrotonyl-3-hydroxybutyric acid congeners produced by a sea anemone-derived marine bacterium of the genus Vibrio

Abstract

Liquid cultures of Vibrio sp. SI9, isolated from the outer tissue of the sea anemone Radianthus crispus, was found to produce three new O-isocrotonyl-3-hydroxybutyric acid derivatives, O-isocrotonyl-3-hydroxypentanoic acid (1), O-isocrotonyl-3-hydroxyhexanoic acid (2), and O-(Z)-2-hexenoyl-3-hydroxybutyric acid (3), together with the known O-isocrotonyl-3-hydroxybutyric acid (4). The structures of 1-3 were established by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, coupled with anisotropy-based chiral analysis, revealing the same R-configuration for all congeners 1-4. The compounds 1-4 were weakly growth-inhibitory against a marine fish ulcer pathogenic bacterium, Tenacibaculum maritimum NBRC16015. Structural similarities among 1-4, the O-isocrotonylated 3-hydroxybutyrate oligomers 5, and microbial biopolymer polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) suggest the presence of a common biosynthetic machinery, and hence a possible dehydrative modification at the hydroxy terminus of PHA.