Chemical analysis of the Alphaproteobacterium strain MOLA1416 associated with the marine lichen Lichina pygmaea

Abstract

Alphaproteobacterium strain MOLA1416, related to Mycoplana ramosa DSM 7292 and Chelativorans intermedius CC-MHSW-5 (93.6% 16S rRNA sequence identity) was isolated from the marine lichen, Lichina pygmaea and its chemical composition was characterized by a metabolomic network analysis using LC-MS/MS data. Twenty-five putative different compounds were revealed using a dereplication workflow based on MS/MS signatures available through GNPS (https://gnps.ucsd.edu/). In total, ten chemical families were highlighted including isocoumarins, macrolactones, erythrinan alkaloids, prodiginines, isoflavones, cyclohexane-diones, sterols, diketopiperazines, amino-acids and most likely glucocorticoids. Among those compounds, two known metabolites (13 and 26) were isolated and structurally identified and metabolite 26 showed a high cytotoxic activity against B16 melanoma cell lines with an IC₅₀ 0.6 ± 0.07 μg/mL.

Keywords: Alphaproteobacteria; Dereplication workflow; LC/MS(n); Lichen-associated bacteria; Lichina pygmaea; Molecular networking.