Vibriosis is a major epizootic disease that impacts free-living and farmed fish species worldwide. Use of probiotics is a promising approach for prevention of Vibrio infections in aquaculture. A probiotic anti-Vibrio strain, Bacillus pumilus H2, was characterized, and the mechanism of its effect was investigated. All 29 Vibrio strains tested were growth-inhibited by H2. The anti-Vibrio substance present in cell-free supernatant of H2 was purified and characterized by reversed-phase HPLC. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of the purified substance, determined in liquid media for various Vibrio strains, ranged from 0.5 to 64 µg/ml. Addition of the purified substance to Vibrio vulnificus culture inhibited cell growth (estimated by OD600). Confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses showed that surface structure of V. vulnificus cells was damaged by the purified substance, as reflected by presence of membrane holes, disappearance of cellular contents, and formation of cell cavities. The major mechanism of this anti-Vibrio activity appeared to involve disruption of cell membranes, and consequent cell lysis. The purified anti-Vibrio substance was shown to be structurally identical to amicoumacin A by MS and NMR analysis. Our findings indicate that B. pumilus H2 has strong potential for prevention or treatment of fish vibriosis in the aquaculture industry.

In the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, sex can benefit its pathogenicity through production of meiospores, which are believed to offer both physical and meiosis-created lineage advantages for its infections. Cryptococcus sporulation occurs following two parallel events, meiosis and differentiation of the basidium, the characteristic sexual structure of the basidiomycetes. However, the circuit integrating these events to ensure subsequent sporulation is unclear. Here, we show the spatiotemporal coordination of meiosis and basidial maturation by visualizing event-specific molecules in developing basidia defined by a quantitative approach. Monitoring of gene induction timing together with genetic analysis reveals co-regulation of the coordinated events by a shared regulatory program. Two RRM family regulators, Csa1 and Csa2, are crucial components that bridge meiosis and basidial maturation, further determining sporulation. We propose that the regulatory coordination of meiosis and basidial development serves as a determinant underlying the production of infectious meiospores in C. neoformans.

Four angucycline glycosides including three new compounds landomycin N (1), galtamycin C (2) and vineomycin D (3), and a known homologue saquayamycin B (4), along with two alkaloids 1-acetyl-β-carboline (5) and indole-3-acetic acid (6), were isolated from the fermentation broth of an intertidal sediments-derived Streptomyces sp. Their structures were established by IR, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR techniques. Among the isolated angucyclines, saquayamycin B (4) displayed potent cytotoxic activity against hepatoma carcinoma cells HepG-2, SMMC-7721 and plc-prf-5, with IC₅₀ values 0.135, 0.033 and 0.244 μM respectively, superior to doxorubicin. Saquayamycin B (4) also induced apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells as detected by its morphological characteristics in 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining experiment.

Four angucycline glycosides were previously characterized from marine-derived Streptomyces sp. OC1610.4. Further investigation of this strain cultured on different fermentation media from that used previously resulted in the isolation of two new angucycline glycosides, vineomycins E and F (1–2), and five known homologues, grincamycin L (3), vineomycinone B₂ (4), fridamycin D (5), moromycin B (7), and saquayamycin B₁ (8). Vineomycin F (2) contains an unusual ring-cleavage deoxy sugar. All the angucycline glycosides isolated from Streptomyces sp. OC1610.4 were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cells MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and BT-474. Moromycin B (7), saquayamycin B₁ (8), and saquayamycin B (9) displayed potent anti-proliferation against the tested cell lines, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.16 to 0.67 μM. Saquayamycin B (9) inhibited the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner, as detected by Transwell and wound-healing assays.