Acetogenins biosynthesis

The radiolabeling of potential precursor units would be the best way to study acetogenin biosynthesis however, the Annonaceous plants have proved very difficult to grow with any degree of speed in tissue culture. It seems that when the acetogenins are produced and... 

Money, T., I. H. Qureshi, G. B. Webster, and A. I. Scott Chemistry of polypyr-ones. A model for acetogenin biosynthesis. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 87, 3004 (1965). Mosbach, K. Die Biosynthese der Orsellinsaure and Penicillinsaure. Acta Chem. Scand. 14, 457 (i960). 

Over the past quarter-century more than 10,000 compounds have been reported from marine-derived organisms. These compounds encompass a wide variety of chemical structures including acetogenins, polyketides, terpenes, alkaloids, peptides and many compounds of mixed biosynthesis. A number of excellent books and reviews document the diversity of both structures and bioactivities which have been observed for marine-derived compounds. ... 

An excellent review of the biosynthesis and metabolism of this class has appeared. Labelling studies with [1- C]- and [2- C]-acetate have shown that the antibiotic rosellisin (13) found in the fungus Hypomyces rosellus is an acetogenin and not an isoprenoid, in contrast to the biosynthesis of another a-pyrone nectriapyrone. 

Because of the diversity of marine organisms and habitats, marine natural products encompass a wide variety of chemical classes, including terpenes, shikimates, polyketides, acetogenins, peptides, alkaloids of varying structures, and a multitude of compounds of mixed biosynthesis. In the past decade alone, the structures of over 5000 marine natural products have been published (3-10). 

Richards J H, Hendrickson J B 1964 The biosynthesis of steroids, terpenes and acetogenins. Benjamin New York Amsterdam, 416 pp... 

In 1937 it was shown that labelled acetate gave labelled terpenes, but evidently by a different route from the fatty acids and acetogenins. In 1956 it was accidentally found that a substance called mevalonic acid (Figure 6.2) was an intermediate between acetate and terpenes, and this gave the clue needed to study their biosynthesis. 

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