Hectochlorin

Hectochlorin is a lipopeptide that exhibits potent antifungal activity against C. albicans and a number of plants pathogens, as well as inhibiting growth of human cell lines by hyperpolymerization of actin. It was originally isolated from the filamentous cyanobacterium Moorea producens JHB, collected from Hector Bay, Jamaica, 1996, which is a strain also known for being the producer of other two potent biomolecules named Jamaicamide A and Cryptomaldamide (unpublished). Due to its activity against plants pathogens, synthetic efforts elucidated the compound’s total synthesis in 2002. Moorea species are normally the main component of the dietary of some sea hares, which concentrate the cyanobacterial metabolites as a mechanism of defense from predators. Therefore, in 2005, hectochlorin was re-isolated from the Thai sea hare Bursatella leachii, along with a new analogue, deacetylhectochlorin. Another reisolation of hectochlorin was reported in 2013, from another Moorea producens strain (RS05), isolated from the Red Sea, surprising a non-tropical environment, in oppose of the other Moorea strains isolated before. The predicted biosynthesis of hectochlorin was publish in 2007 and consist in a hybrid NRPS-PKS, with a hexanoic acid as start unit that becomes halogenated twice in the position 5, producing fairly rare gem-dichloro group, that along with two 2,3-dihydroxyisovaleric acid (DHIV) units compose a very interesting bioactive molecule.