Antiplasmodial Asperterpenoids from Two Aspergillus oryzae Transformants with Heterologous Expression of Sesterterpene Genes

The synthetic biology approach enables efficient and directional mining of target compounds during drug discovery. Ten new asperterpenoids (6–15) and five known analogues (1–5), possessing a rare 5/7/3/6/5 skeleton, were obtained from two Aspergillus oryzae transformants with heterologous expression of a terpene cyclase gene AstC with one or two P450 genes AstB/A under the guidance of molecular networking. Their planar structures were determined by 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The absolute configurations of compounds 6 and 9–13 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and those of compounds 7–8 and 14–15 were compared with the ECD of known compounds. Seven of all the compounds are the first asperterpenoid oxidation products at C–17 or at C–25. In bioassay, compounds 1–2, 4–5, and 6–8 displayed moderate to strong eliminating activities against chloroquine-sensitive strain (P.f.3D7) with EC50 values ranging from 2.1 to 19.3 μM. The structure–activity relationship (SAR) was discussed, which showed that substituents at C–3, C–11, C–17, C–18, and C–23 of asperterpenoids significantly affected anti-plasma parasite activity.