Polyketide Family of Novel Antibacterial 7-O-Methyl-5′-hydroxy-3′-heptenoate-Macrolactin from Seaweed-Associated Bacillus subtilis MTCC 10403

Seaweed-associated heterotrophic bacterial communities were screened to isolate potentially useful antimicrobial strains, which were characterized by phylogenetic analysis. The bacteria were screened for the presence of metabolite genes involved in natural product biosynthetic pathway, and the structural properties of secondary metabolites were correlated with the genes. Bioactivity-guided isolation of polyene antibiotic 7-O-methyl-5'-hydroxy-3'-heptenoate-macrolactin from Bacillus subtilis MTCC10403 associated with seaweed Anthophycus longifolius using mass spectrometry and extensive 2D-NMR studies was carried out. The newly isolated macrolactin compound is a bactericidal antibiotic with broad spectrum activity against human opportunistic clinical pathogens. The biosynthetic pathway of 7-O-methyl-5'-hydroxy-3'-heptenoate-macrolactin by means of a stepwise, decarboxylative condensation pathway established the PKS-assisted biosynthesis of the parent macrolactin and the side-chain 5-hydroxyhept-3-enoate moiety attached to the macrolactin ring system at C-7. Antimicrobial activity analysis combined with the results of amplifying genes encoding for polyketide synthetase and nonribosomal peptide synthetase showed that seaweed-associated bacteria had broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. The present work may have an impact on the exploitation of macrolactins for pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications.