Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the cause of the disease tuberculosis (TB), an epidemic that affects more than a third of the world’s population, primarily in latent form. TB continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide, despite having been deemed a curable disease. The disease affects low and middle-income countries the most, where it is more difficult to receive the intensive treatment. Also, according to the World Health Organization, it was the cause of 1 in 3 deaths of people with HIV in 2016, a year that saw 10.4 million new cases of the disease. With the continual threat and spread of multidrug-resistant strains, and now the emergence of extreme drug resistance, the need for new methods to combat tuberculosis is growing. Our work aims to discover new compounds with potential for use as antibiotics against TB. The current study involves a marine bacterium, designated UA088, which was isolated and grown on a large scale for extraction. Through a series of separations and purification techniques, five fractions of various polarities were isolated and tested against M. marinum to determine inhibitory activity. Surprisingly, almost all of the fractions showed activity despite the wide range of polarities. Using a variety of NMR spectroscopy techniques along with a growth inhibition assay, these fractions were further separated until a compound, referred to as UA088 Alpha, was isolated. Purification and structure elucidation of UA088 Alpha will be discussed.

Antimycobacterial compounds from a marine bacterium isolated from the surface of Ulva californica

255th National Meeting (2018)

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