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Microbial constructions of secondary metabolites are generally biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC)-based, and the forging of different BGC-sourced intermediates tends to be overlooked. Here, we show that the dalesconol bioassembly lines in Daldinia eschscholzii can sequester guest intermediates (i.e., building blocks produced outside the dalesconol biosynthetic gene cluster) to form arrays of skeletally undescribed molecules such as (+)-dalescone A, a potent inhibitor against the NLRP3 inflammasome activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoimmune and inflammatory diseases are associated with inappropriate activation of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, but suitable inhibitors against such improper activations remain scarce. Here, spirodalesol (1) from Daldinia eschscholzii was structurally characterized and is biosynthetically proposed as an NLRP3 inflammasome activation inhibitor with an unprecedented carbon skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curvularia sp. IFB-Z10, a white croaker-associated fungus, generates a skeletally unprecedented indolizine alkaloid named curindolizine (1), which displays an anti-inflammatory action in lipopolyssacharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages with an IC50 value of 5.31 ± 0.21 μM. The enzymatic transformation test demonstrated that the unique curindolizine architecture was most likely produced by the regiospecific in-cell Michael addition reaction between pyrrole alkaloids, curvulamine, and 3,5-dimethylindolizin-8(5H)-one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolomics is the study of metabolic changes in biological systems and provides the small molecule fingerprints related to the disease. Extracting biomedical information from large metabolomics data sets by multivariate data analysis is of considerable complexity. Therefore, more efficient and optimizing metabolomics data processing technologies are needed to improve mass spectrometry applications in biomarker discovery. Here, we report the findings of urine metabolomic investigation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients by high-throughput ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) coupled with pattern recognition methods (principal component analysis, partial least-squares, and OPLS-DA) and network pharmacology. A total of 20 urinary differential metabolites (13 upregulated and 7 downregulated) were identified and contributed to HCV progress, involve several key metabolic pathways such as taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, histidine metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, and so forth. Metabolites identified through metabolic profiling may facilitate the development of more accurate marker algorithms to better monitor disease progression. Network analysis validated close contact between these metabolites and implied the importance of the metabolic pathways. Mapping altered metabolites to KEGG pathways identified alterations in a variety of biological processes mediated through complex networks. These findings may be promising to yield a valuable and noninvasive tool that insights into the pathophysiology of HCV and to advance the early diagnosis and monitor the progression of disease. Overall, this investigation illustrates the power of the UPLC-MS platform combined with the pattern recognition and network analysis methods that can engender new insights into HCV pathobiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the negligible or acceptable immunogenicity, small molecules capable of inducing the differentiation of undifferentiated stem cells into organ-specific cell types are particularly promising in developing replacement therapy, but such compounds with undescribed architectures are extremely rare. Selesconol (1) is discovered from the culture of Daldinia eschscholzii IFB-TL01 as a skeletally unprecedented inducer for the differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells, with its unique framework clarified to derive from the intermediate tautomerization of the dalesconol A biosynthetic pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]