Carriebowlinol, an antimicrobial tetrahydroquinolinol from an assemblage of marine cyanobacteria containing a novel taxon

Abstract

A combined biodiversity- and bioassay-guided natural products discovery approach was used to explore new groups of marine cyanobacteria for novel secondary metabolites with ecologically relevant bioactivities. Phylogenetic analysis of cyanobacterial collections from Belize revealed a new taxon not previously well explored for natural products. The new alkaloid 5-hydroxy-4-(chloromethyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinoline (1), named carriebowlinol, and the known compound lyngbic acid (2) were isolated from a nonpolar extract and identified by NMR and MS techniques. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited the growth of pathogenic and saprophytic marine fungi, and 1 inhibited the growth of marine bacteria, suggesting an antimicrobial ecological function.