FR 901379 is a pneumocandin belonging to the echinocandin class of cyclic lipopeptides produced by Coleophoma empetri F11899, discovered as antifungals and patented in 1991 by Ueda and colleagues. FR 901379 inhibits the synthesis of 1,3-β-D glucan in the fungal cell wall. The sulfonic acid confers water solubility, a limitation with other echinocandins. Unfortunately, FR 901379 was also haemolytic, this limitation being overcome by selective hydrolysis using a cyclic lipopeptide acylase to yield FR 179642, the starting material for production of the commercial antifungal, micafungin.
| Molecular Formula | C17H14O5 |
| References | IwamotoT. et al (1994) WF11899A, B and C, novel antifungal lipopeptides. I. Taxonomy, fermentation, 1.2. isolation and physicochemical properties. J. Antibiot. 47:1084 Kanda M et al (2009) Improvement of FR901379 production by mutant selection and medium optimimization. J. BioSci. Bioeng. 107:530 Tomishima et al (2008) Novel echinocandin antifungals. Part 1: Novel side-chain analogs of the natural product FR901379. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Letters 18:1474 Toshiro I et al (1991) Preparation of cyclic peptide (echinocandin B) antibiotics. EP 462531 A2 Ueda S et al (1992) Screening and characterization of microorganisms with FR 901379 acylase activity. J. Antibiot. 63:605 |
