FR901228, a novel antitumor bicyclic depsipeptide produced by Chromobacterium violaceum No. 968. I. Taxonomy, fermentation, isolation, physico-chemical and biological properties, and antitumor activity.

A novel antitumor bicyclic depsipeptide, FR901228, was isolated from a broth culture of Chromobacterium violaceum No. 968 as colorless prisms and the molecular formula was determined as C24H36N4O6S2. This antibiotic reverted the transformed morphology of a Ha-ras transformant to normal, and exhibited prominent antitumor activities against murine and human tumor cell lines both in vitro and in vivo.