What are Depsipeptides ?
Depsipeptides are natural occurring or synthetic peptides that contain one or more ester bonds in addition to amide bonds. Depsipeptides are heterodetic peptides containing peptide bonds as well as covalent linkages between certain amino acyl residues that are not peptide bonds such as ester bonds. Examples are valinomycin and oxytocin. These types of natural peptides have been found in many organisms including fungi, bacteria, and marine organisms. Many reports in the scientific literature indicate that depsipeptides, in particular the cyclic depsipeptides and their derivatives exhibit a diverse spectrum of biological activities. Biologic activities include insecticidal, antiviral, antimicrobial, antitumor, tumor-promotive, anti-inflammatory, and immunosuppressive actions as well as therapeutic potential as anticancer and antimicrobial agents. However, the isolation and purification of natural depsipeptides to produce the needed quantities can be difficult. Solid-phase peptide synthesis and combinatorial peptide chemistry approaches can be employed to elucidate structure-activity relationships and to find new bioactive compounds of this class of peptides.
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02/19/2014