Abyssomicins, inhibitors of the para-aminobenzoic acid pathway produced by the marine Verrucosispora strain AB-18-032

A screening method was established to detect inhibitors of the biosynthetic pathways of aromatic amino acids and para-aminobenzoic acid, the precursor of folic acid, using an agar plate diffusion assay modified as an antagonism test. By this screening method, a family of three novel polycyclic polyketides named as abyssomicins was isolated from a marine strain of Verrucosispora. The main component abyssomicin C inhibits the pathway between chorismate and para-aminobenzoic acid and is strongly active against gram-positive bacteria, including multi-resistant clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus

Sincerely James: Reconsidering Frederick Francis’s Proposed Health Wish Formula

This article interacts with Frederick Francis’s well-known suggestion that Jas 5 contains a health wish formula. Based on more recent findings of epistolography, this article argues that the references to healing in Jas 5 contrast sharply with the first-century CE health wish formula(s). In addition to current research on Hellenistic epistolography, this article offers three further pieces of evidence which suggest that the letter of James does not conclude with a health wish formula, but rather with a promise of restoration from spiritual sickness