Selective inhibition of Rhizopus eumelanin biosynthesis by novel natural product scaffold-based designs caused significant inhibition of fungal pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Melanin is a dark color pigment biosynthesized naturally in most living organisms. Fungal melanin is a major putative virulence factor of Mucorales fungi that allows intracellular persistence by inducing phagosome maturation arrest. Recently, it has been shown that the black pigments of Rhizopus delemar is of eumelanin type, that requires the involvement of tyrosinase (a copper-dependent enzyme) in its biosynthesis. Herein, we have developed a series of compounds (UOSC-1-14) to selectively target Rhizopus melanin and explored this mechanism therapeutically. The compounds were designed based on the scaffold of the natural product, cuminaldehyde, identified from plant sources and has been shown to develop non-selective inhibition of melanin production. While all synthesized compounds showed

SUBMITTER: Soliman SSM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8558502 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature