Researchers in Korea have succeeded in chemically synthesizing a rare natural product that can be obtained in extremely small quantities from a fungus that lives in symbiosis with the soybean beetle.
A research team led by Professor Han Sun-kyu from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 31st that they have synthesized the natural anti-neuroinflammatory substances 'Herpotrichone A, B, C' discovered in fungi living in symbiosis with soybean beetles for the first time in the world. The research results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) on the 16th.
Herpotrichone is evaluated as a substance with excellent properties in suppressing inflammation in the brain and protecting nerve cells, and it has high potential to be developed as a treatment for degenerative brain diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease. The natural product herpotrichone can only be obtained in extremely small quantities from the symbiotic fungus 'Herpotrichia sp. SF09' of the soybean beetle.
The research team predicted how this substance is produced in the fungus and devised a method to chemically create the complex structure of herpotrichone in the laboratory. Utilizing reactions that allow carbon-based partners to create new bonds and form hexagonal ring structures, similar to how two puzzle pieces fit together to create a single ring.
The research team also focused on the phenomenon of weak attraction between molecules known as 'hydrogen bonding.' By delicately designing and controlling this hydrogen bond, they were able to precisely induce the reaction to occur only in the desired direction and at the desired location, accurately producing Herpotrichone A, B, C instead of unwanted byproducts.
Professor Han Sun-kyu noted, "This achievement is the first synthesis of a rare natural product with pharmacological activity related to degenerative neurological diseases and systematically presents the principles of biomimetic synthesis of complex natural products," adding, "It is expected to be widely utilized in the development of natural product-based anti-neuroinflammatory therapeutics and research on the biosynthesis of this group of natural products in the future."
References
Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c05061