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Review
. 2025 Jun 25;26(13):6117.
doi: 10.3390/ijms26136117.

Chemodiversity and Biotechnological Potential of Microginins

Joaquim da Silva Pinto Neto  1 , Gustavo Marques Serra  1 , Luciana Pereira Xavier  1 , Agenor Valadares Santos  1
Affiliations
Review

Chemodiversity and Biotechnological Potential of Microginins

Joaquim da Silva Pinto Neto et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Biotechnology has increasingly focused on cyanobacteria as these microorganisms are a rich source of secondary metabolites with significant potential for various industries. Cyanobacterial metabolites have been described to have a wide range of biological activities, including cytotoxicity in cancer cells, inhibition of pathogenic bacteria and fungi, and inhibition of various enzymes, demonstrating a great diversity of bioactive compounds. The cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa is well known for its toxicity and production of the cyanotoxin microcystin. However, another peptide produced by this cyanobacterium, microginins, has significant biotechnological potential. These linear pentapeptides were initially discovered for their angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity. Subsequent studies have explored the full potential of this peptide, revealing its ability to inhibit other enzymes as well. This review aims to compile and systematize the microginins with biotechnological potential described in the literature, as well as outline their main structural characteristics and the predominant methodologies for their isolation and identification.

Keywords: biotechnology; chemodiversity; cyanobacteria; microginin; peptide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) First elucidated the structure of microginin, showing the numbers of the amino acid positions and the respective amino acids present in each position. (b) General scheme of microginins, illustrating the composition and organization of the positions and amino acids.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ahda C-3 stereochemistry (1: solved stereochemical structure; 2: (2R,3R)-Ahda; 3: (2S,3R)-Ahda).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The structure of the first microginins is elucidated in the literature.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Structures analogous to microginins are reported in the literature.
Figure 5
Figure 5
A graphical representation of microginin biosynthetic gene clusters. BGC: M. aeruginosa LEGE 91341 (accession BGC0002623); Planktothrix prolifica NIVA-CYA 98 (accession AM990468); M. aeruginosa HUB P323 (accession N.I.); P. prolifica NIVA-CYA 406 (accession DQ837301); M. aeruginosa PCC 9432 (accession CAIH01000183).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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