The compound callistemenone A may be rapidly sterilized by altering the membrane potential of bacteria.

Myrtaceae is home to about 130 genus, 4,500-5,000 species, mainly in the Mediterranean, Madagascar, tropical and temperut regions of Asia, Australia, Pacific islands and tropical regions of South America.
there are about 10 genus (including 5 genus introduced for cultivation) and 121 species (50 endemity species, 32 cultivated species).
, a researcher in the Chemical Biology Group of Natural Products of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been conducting research on the interphenol components of the plants and their resistance to drug-resistant bacteria.
Researchers at the South China Botanical Garden found a novel structure and 12 new interphenyl triphenol derivatives in the study of callistemon viminalis, which determined the chemical structure and absolute configuration of these compounds by means of multispectral analysis and ECD calculation, and carried out a corresponding structure-effect relationship study on some molecules based on the means of diversity synthesis.
Among these active compounds, the new compound callistemenone A has a novel diphenol structure, and the biogenic synthesis pathways are hypothetical, and the oxidation conjugation, deco aromaticization, and Micheal addition reactions are considered to be key steps in their biosynthesis pathways.
subsequent active studies have found that callistemenonone A showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against a variety of rye-positive bacteria, including methicid-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
in-depth study of antibacterial mechanisms has revealed that the compound callisttemenonone A is different from common natural products that destroy bacterial membrane permeability and other mechanisms, it may be by changing the membrane potential of bacteria to achieve rapid bacterial extinction.
current results show that callistemenonone A can be further studied as an antibacterial pilot compound with a clear application for drug development.
this part of the research work is mainly carried out by Qiu Shengxiang group of assistant researcher Tan Haibo, Ph.D. Liu Hongxin, doctoral student Zhao Liyun and undergraduate student Xiang Yuqing and others.
project received the National Natural Science Youth Fund (No.81502949), the Guangdong Science and Technology Program (No.2016A010105015), the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (No.2015A030310482; 2016A030313149) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Biological Resources Service Network Program (ZSZ) C-005) and published in Eur.J.Med.Chem. (2017, 125,492-499), Sci.Rep. (2017, 7,2363) and Fitoterapia (2016, 114, 40-44. 2016, 115, 142-147).
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