Bioactive natural products from myxomycetes having effects on signaling pathways

The myxomycetes (true slime molds) are an unusual group of primitive organisms that may be assigned to one of the lowest classes of eukaryotes. We studied the chemical constituents of a laboratory culture of plasmodia as well as field-collected fruit bodies of myxomycetes, and isolated various compounds with unique chemical structures and bioactivities. We recently also performed screening studies of natural products targeting signaling pathways related to basic studies of diseases and life sciences. Among myxomycetes constituents, we found several bioactive compounds that have effects on signaling pathways, including a cycloanthranilylproline with TRAIL resistance-overcoming activity, peptide lactone derivatives with Wnt signal inhibitory activity, a naphthoquinone pigment with Hes1 dimerization inhibition activity, and bisindole alkaloids with hedgehog signal inhibitory activity. Here we describe our recent results of their isolation, structure elucidation, synthesis, and findings in bioactivity studies.