ISOLATION AND STRUCTURE OF CHAETOMELLIC ACIDS A AND B FROM CHAETOMELLA-ACUTISETA - FARNESYL PYROPHOSPHATE MIMIC INHIBITORS OF RAS FARNESYL-PROTEIN TRANSFERASE

Farnesyl-Protein transferase catalyses a post-translational modificati on of Ras that is obligatory for the cell transforming activity of thi s oncogene protein. The screening of natural products to identify inhi bitors of this enzyme as a potential anticancer agents, has led to the isolation of two novel dicarboxylic acids, named chaetomellic acids f rom Chaetomella acutiseta , as potent and selective inhibitors which a ppear to be the first examples of non-phosphorous containing FPP mimic s.