Dr. Nabil el Jaber

Approximately two third of the drugs used to treat cancer or infectious diseases are either natural products or have been developed based on lead structures provided by nature (1). The gram-negative Myxobacteria are highly valuable producers of a wide range of bioactive secondary metabolites representing ca. 5% of the total known compounds obtained from microorganisms (2). Among the myxobacteria, Chondromyces species exhibit a high capacity to produce secondary metabolites with promising anti-infective and anti-cancer properties (3, 4, 5).

Our current work aims to deepen our understanding of the biosynthesis of the chondrochlorens, bioactive compounds produced by Chondromyces crocatus. We are also analyzing the metabolic profile of a second myxobacterial species, Archangium Ar8082, with the view to identifying new candidates for biosynthetic studies.

1. Newman, D.J., Cragg, G.M. & Snader, K.M. (2003).   J. Nat. Prod. 66, 1022-1037.
2. Reichenbach, H. (2001).  J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 27, 149-156.
3. Sasse F., Heinrich S., Jurgen H., Gerhard H. & Hans R. (2000).   J. Antibiot. 53, 879-885.
4. Reichenbach, H.& Höfle, G. (1999)   in Drug discovery from Nature (Eds.:S. Grabley, R. Thiericke), Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 149-187.
5. Kunze B., Jansen R., Sasse F., Höfle G. & Reichenbach H. (1995).   J. Antibiot. 48, 1262-1266.