Lee M D, Fantini A A, Kuck N A, Greenstein M, Testa R T, Borders D B
American Cyanamid Co., Medical Research Division, Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, New York 10965.
J Antibiot (Tokyo). 1987 Dec;40(12):1657-63. doi: 10.7164/antibiotics.40.1657.
The LL-D05139 complex, containing LL-D05139 beta and azaserine, was recovered from the fermentation filtrate of Glycomyces harbinensis (NRRL 15337). A chemically defined medium was developed which favored the production of LL-D05139 beta. Antibiotic LL-D05139 beta was isolated from the fermentation filtrate by adsorption on granular carbon and further purified by chromatography on microcrystalline cellulose. Acid hydrolysis of LL-D05139 beta gave one molar equivalent each of alanine and serine. Both amino acids were found to have the L-configuration by GC analysis on a chiral column and alanine was assigned to be the N-terminal amino acid by Edman degradation. This information coupled with IR, UV, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS spectral data allowed us to assign the structure of LL-D05139 beta as alanylazaserine. LL-D05139 beta demonstrated greater antibacterial and biochemical induction assay activities than azaserine. The two drugs showed similar antitumor activities.