Indoxamycins A-F. Cytotoxic tricycklic polypropionates from a marine-derived actinomycete.

Six antitumor antibiotics of a new structure class, indoxamycins A-F (1-6), were isolated from a saline culture group of marine-derived actinomyces whose strains showed approximately 96% sequence homology of 16S rDNA with the family streptomycetaceae. The structures of these indoxamycins, which are unusual polyketides composed of six consecutive chiral centers, were assigned by combined spectral and chemical methods. In feeding experiments using a stable isotope label, indoxamycin A was assembled from propionate units initially forming the "aglycon" pentamethyl indeno furan. The discovery of these unprecedented compounds from marine-derived actinomycetes, a low gene homology genus, offers a significant opportunity for drug discovery.