Novel Metabolites from Extremophilic Microbes Isolated from Toxic Waste Sites

This chapter provides the compounds as well as their activities in both enzyme inhibitory assays and orthogonal cell-based assays. It also provides a profile of Berkeley Pit Lake (BPL) and a brief history of its evolution from an abandoned mine into a dynamic ecosystem. However, when colleague Bill Chatham discovered green algae growing on a piece of wood floating just below the surface of BPL less than one mile from our laboratory, we were intrigued by the possibility that other microorganisms might be found in this acid lake. BPL is ground zero for the largest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site in North America. Despite its low pH, high oxidation potential (Eh), and high metal concentration, it harbors a population of extremophilic microbes that have yielded a collection of bioactive natural products with promising drug-like properties. The chapter focuses on microbes that could be isolated from waters and sediment of the Pit and grown in the laboratory in submerged culture.