Tripartin, a histone demethylase inhibitor from a bacterium associated with a dung beetle larva.

Tripartin (1), a new dichlorinated indanone, was isolated from the culture broth of the Streptomyces sp. associated with a larva of the dung beetle Copris tripartitus Waterhouse. The planar structure of tripartin (1) was identified by the spectroscopic analyses of NMR, mass, UV, and IR data. The structure was confirmed, and the absolute configuration of 1 was determined by X-ray crystallography. Tripartin displayed specific activity as an inhibitor of the histone H3 lysine 9 demethylase KDM4 in HeLa cells.