Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Analogues of the Antibiotic Pantocin B

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Abstract
Strains of the bacteria Erwinia herbicola produce antibiotics that effectively control E. amylovora, the bacterial pathogen responsible for the plant disease fire blight. Pantocin B was the first of these antibiotics to be characterized, and a flexible synthesis of various analogues is reported. Embedded in the “pseudo-tripeptide” backbone of pantocin B are a methylenediamine and a methyl sulfone, both unusual structural features in natural products. The peptidic nature of pantocin B facilitated a series of structure−activity relationship studies that probed the roles of these functional groups in determining the biological activity of pantocin B. A clear demarcation of the roles between the N- and C-terminal portions of the antibiotic was determined as a result of the structure−activity relationship studies. The N-terminal l-alanyl group is needed for cellular import but not for interaction with the intracellular target, the arginine biosynthetic enzyme N-acetylornithine aminotransferase. The methylenediamine and methyl sulfone portions were found to be essential for antibiotic activity, presumably due to extensive interactions with N-acetylornithine aminotransferase.