By treating with histone-deacetylase inhibitor valproate sodium, three new heterdimeric tetrahydroxanthone–chromanone lactones chrysoxanthones A–C (1–3), along with 17 known compounds were isolated from a sponge-associated Penicillium chrysogenum HLS111. The planar structures of chrysoxanthones A–C were elucidated by means of spectroscopic analyses, including MS, 1D, and 2D NMR. Their absolute configurations were established by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Chrysoxanthones A–C exhibited moderate antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 5–10 μg/mL.

A new spirotetronate glycoside tetrocarcin Q (1) and six known analogues tetrocarcin A (2), AC6H (3), tetrocarcin N (4), tetrocarcin H (5), arisostatin A (6), and tetrocarcin F1 (7) were isolated from the fermentation broth of the marine-derived actinomycete Micromonospora carbonacea LS276. Their chemical structures were established on the basis of 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopy, as well as HR-ESI-MS analysis. The absolute configurations of their stereogenic carbons were determined by circular dichroism (CD) analysis. Compound 1 possesses 2-deoxy-allose, which is a unique sugar type at the C-9 position. This type has not been found in the previously reported spirotetronate glycosides. Compound 1 displayed moderate antibacterial activity against Bacillus subitlis ATCC 63501 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 12.5 μM.

The β-glycoside hydrolases (LXYL-P1−1 and LXYL-P1−2) from Lentinula edodes (strain M95.33) can specifically hydrolyze 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol (XDT) to form 10-deacetyltaxol for the semi-synthesis of Taxol. Our previous study showed that both the I368T mutation in LXYL-P1−1 and the T368E mutation in LXYL-P1−2 could increase the enzyme activity, which prompted us to investigate the effect of the I368E mutation on LXYL-P1−1 activity. In this study, the β-xylosidase and β-glucosidase activities of LXYL-P1−1^I368E were 1.5 and 2.2 times higher than those of LXYL-P1−1. Most importantly, combination of I368E and V91S exerted the cumulative effects on the improvement of the enzyme activities and catalytic efficiency. The β-xylosidase and β-glucosidase activities of the double mutant LXYL-P1−1^V91S/I368E were 3.2 and 1.7-fold higher than those of LXYL-P1−1^I368E. Similarly, the catalytic efficiency of LXYL-P1−1^V91S/I368E on 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol was 1.8-fold higher than that of LXYL-P1−1^I368E due to the dramatic increase in the substrate affinity. Molecular docking results suggest that the V91S and I368E mutation might positively promote the interaction between enzyme and substrate through altering the loop conformation near XDT and increasing the hydrogen bonds among Ser⁹¹, Trp³⁰¹, and XDT. This study lays the foundation for exploring the relationship between the structure and function of the β-glycoside hydrolases.

The glycoside hydrolase LXYL-P1–2 from Lentinula edodes can specifically hydrolyze 7-β-xylosyltaxanes to form 7-β-hydroxyltaxanes for the semi-synthesis of paclitaxel. In order to improve the catalytic properties of the enzyme, we performed error-prone PCR to construct the random mutant library of LXYL-P1–2 and used the methanol-induced plate method to screen the mutants with improved catalytic properties. Two variants, LXYL-P1–2-EP1 (EP1, S91D mutation) and LXYL-P1–2-EP2 (EP2, T368E mutation), were obtained from the library and exhibited 17% and 47% increases in their catalytic efficiencies on 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol. Meanwhile, compared with LXYL-P1–2, EP1 and EP2 showed elevated stabilities in the range of pH ≥ 6 conditions. After treatment at pH 12 for 48 h, EP1 and EP2 retained 77% and 63% activities, respectively, while the wild-type only retained 33% activity under the same condition. Molecular docking results revealed that the S91D mutation led to a shorter distance between the R-chain and the substrate, while the T368E mutation increased negative charge at the surface of the enzyme, and may introduce alterations of the loop near the active pocket, both of which may result in improved stabilities and catalytic activities of enzymes. This study provides a practical directed evolution method for exploring catalytically improved glycoside hydrolase.