Insecticidal Cyclodepsitetrapeptides from Mortierella alpina

Early diverging fungi, such as Mortierella alpina, are an emerging source of bioactive peptides. By screening 22 fungal isolates together with precursor-directed biosynthesis, a family of threonine-linked cyclotetradepsipeptides, the cycloacetamides A-F (1-6), was identified. The structure elucidation was conducted using NMR and HR-ESI-MS/MS analyses, and the absolute configuration was determined by Marfey's analysis and total synthesis. Cycloacetamides are not cytotoxic to human cells, while being highly selectively insecticidal against fruit fly larvae.