Purification and quantification of bioactive secondary metabolites by the induction of resistance to antibiotics

• Grant number: 18/17978-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: October 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Alberto Beraldo de Moraes
• Grantee: Fernanda Morila Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Microorganisms are an inexhaustible and important source of bioactive secondary metabolites with different modes of action. Actinobacteria have been shown to be efficient for carrying out the biosynthesis of a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites, in particular antibiotics. Several strategies have been applied for the activation of cryptic microbial pathways, such as OSMAC, heterologous and homologous expression, co-culture and ribosomal engineering. Among them, ribosomal engineering seems to be more attractive due to the fact that it does not require the global knowledge of the bacterial genome. In this sense, a regular research project (process 2016/22023-0) that applies ribosomal engineering to generate mutants of three actinobacteria strains (CAAT 1-54, EUCAL 26 and CAAT 2-63) is underway. The main purpose of the proposed scientific initiation project is the isolation of the major secondary metabolites produced in ribosomal engineering experiments. These isolated compounds will be used as analytical standards for quantification studies of the generated mutants. The purification process will be performed using a preparative scale HPLC system and quantification will be performed employing an UPLC-MS/MS system.