Antimicrobial Chrysophaentin Analogs Identified from Laboratory Cultures of the Marine Microalga Chrysophaeum taylorii.

A laboratory culture of the colonial marine alga Chrysophaeum taylorii NIES-1699 yielded a set of new bioactive chrysophaentin analogs, and their structures were determined by HRESIMS and NMR spectroscopy. Differences in the metabolites identified between cultured C. taylorii NIES-1699 and field-collected strains from the U.S. Virgin Islands revealed additional structure-activity relationships for the Gram-positive antibiotic activity of the chrysophaentins. The presence of new hemichrysophaentins and a C-C linked biphenyl analog suggest novel features of their biosynthetic pathway. Bayesian analysis of the alignment of the 18S rRNA gene places the microalga C. taylorii in the pelagophyte clade.