1,4-Benzoquinone antimicrobial agents against Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis derived from scorpion venom
Abstract
Development of new drugs from the venom of dangerous animals (spiders, snakes, scorpions, snails) has recently attracted much chemotherapeutic interest. While most isolated and characterized venom components are found to be proteinic or peptidic in nature, here we report two 1,4-benzoquinone compounds, one red and another blue, derived from the venom of a rarely studied scorpion ( Diplocentrus melici ) indigenous to Mexico. After successful identification and synthesis of these compounds, the red and blue benzoquinones showed remarkable antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis , respectively. The observation that the blue compound is equally effective against normal and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis while appearing not to affect the epithelium of lungs heightens its potential as a new drug candidate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 10, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1812334116
Entities
People
- Dulce Mata-espinosa
- Edson Norberto Carcamo-noriega
- Elumalai Gnanamani
- José Ignacio Veytia-bucheli
- Lourival Possani Postay
- Monserrat Mendoza-trujillo
- Richard Zare
- Rogelio Hernández-pando
- Shibdas Banerjee
- Shyam Sathyamoorthi
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati
- Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán
- Stanford University