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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Production and Testing of Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Mimics
Published on: April 10, 2026
Structure and total synthesis of fungal calpinactam, a new antimycobacterial agent
Nobuhiro Koyama1, Shigenobu Kojima, Takeo Fukuda
1Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kitasato University, 5-9-1 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8641, Japan.
Abstract:
A new fungal metabolite designated calpinactam (1) was isolated from the culture broth of Mortierella alpina FKI-4905, and its structure was elucidated by spectroscopic analyses including NMR experiments. Calpinactam was found to be a hexapeptide with a caprolactam ring at its C-terminal. Its absolute stereochemistry was determined by amino acid analysis and total synthesis. Calpinactam selectively inhibited the growth of mycobacteria among various microorganisms. The MIC values of calpinactam against Mycobacterium smegmatis and M. tuberculosis were 0.78 and 12.5 microg/mL, respectively.
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