Metabolomics for dereplicating natural products from cyanobacteria

• Grant number: 25/03645-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Camila Manoel Crnkovic
• Grantee: Carolina Emy Ono Leal
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/02872-4 - Integrated strategies for natural product discovery from Brazilian cyanobacteria, AP.PNGP.PI

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms that produce secondary metabolites. Many cyanobacteria are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, although they preferably assimilate it from sources such as nitrate or ammonium. Their secondary metabolism remains largely unexplored, representing a promising source of natural products. In the search for new bioactive compounds, prefractionation and dereplication strategies facilitate the detection of potentially novel molecules. This study proposes to employ extract prefractionation, screening in antiproliferative and antimicrobial activity assays, and mass spectrometry-based dereplication to prioritize cyanobacteria samples for natural product discovery. We propose to explore 15N stable nitrogen isotope labeling as part of the dereplication strategy.