Antibiotics GE23077, novel inhibitors of bacterial RNA polymerase. Part 3: Chemical derivatization.

GE23077 is a novel RNA polymerase inhibitor that is isolated from the fermentation broth of an Actinomadura sp. It is a cyclic heptapeptide complex made up of four factors, differing in the structure of acyl group connected to the side chain of an alpha,beta-diaminopropanoic acid moiety and in the configuration of the stereocenter of an alpha-amino-malonic acid residue. Although GE23077 shows strong inhibitory activity on both Rifampicin-sensitive and -resistant polymerases, it exhibits poor antimicrobial activity.