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Emericellopsic acid, a helvolic acid derivative with a 6/5/7/5 tetracyclic skeleton from sponge-derived Emericellopsis maritima

Abstract

Emericellopsic acid (1), the first B/C ring-rearranged fusidane-type antibiotic possessing a 6/5/7/5-fused ring framework, together with seven known helvolic acid derivatives, was isolated from the sponge-associated fungus Emericellopsis maritima IMB18-123 cultivated with autoclaved Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The structure of 1 was determined by extensive spectroscopic data analysis combined with ECD calculation. Compound 1 exhibited moderate antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis with the minimum inhibition concentration of 4−8 μg ml−1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 82273830), CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS, 2021-I2M-1-055 and 2024-I2M-TS-016), and National Key R&D Program of China (Grant no. 2024YFC2309604).

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Correspondence to Maoluo Gan.

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Li, S., Hao, X., Li, Y. et al. Emericellopsic acid, a helvolic acid derivative with a 6/5/7/5 tetracyclic skeleton from sponge-derived Emericellopsis maritima. J Antibiot 78, 580–585 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-025-00852-5

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