Natural products, chemical compounds produced by secondary metabolism in living organisms, have provided variety of drugs and drug-leads such as antibiotics, anticancer drugs and agricultural chemicals. My research is focused on the unveiling unknown secondary metabolism machinery and the screening of new natural products using chemical and genomic approach.

Potent neurotoxin in newt

Tetrodotoxin (TTX), one of the most famous natural toxins, possesses a rare and complex chemical structure. TTX is distributed worldwide in marine animals (such as pufferfish (Fugu), snails and crabs) and terrestrial amphibians (newts and frogs). Despite the high interest in TTX, the biosynthesis remains unresolved. We have been identifying the new TTX analogous and possible biosynthetic intermediate/shunt products from the TTX-bearing newt. The structures were elucidated via detailed chemical analysis. Based on the structures of novel compounds, we proposed the biosynthetic and shunt pathways of TTX in terrestrial organisms.

https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/en/feature/topics/detail—id-913.html

https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/en/feature/topics/detail—id-913.html