New apratoxins of marine cyanobacterial origin from Guam and Palau

Two collections of the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya sp. from Guam and Palau that both afforded the potent cytotoxin apratoxin A (1) each yielded different structural analogues with lower degrees of methylation. The new apratoxins, termed apratoxins B (2) and C (3), were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity along with semisynthetic E-dehydroapratoxin A (4) to identify key structural elements responsible for the cytotoxicity and to initiate SAR studies on this novel family of depsipeptides. All analogues 2-4 displayed weaker cytotoxicity than 1, but to different extents. While compound 3 closely approached the cytotoxicity of 1, compounds 2 and 4 exhibited significantly reduced activity, possibly also related to a conformational change. The 16S rRNA genes of the different apratoxin producers have partially been sequenced and compared, and other genetic differences are currently being revealed.