Publications

Satoshi Ōmura's research focuses primarily on the discovery and isolation of useful microorganisms and bioactive substances produced by them. By improving isolation and cultivation methods of microorganisms, and establishing innovative screening systems, he has found almost 500 new compounds. He has published extensively, in several languages, and his textbook on Macrolide Antibiotics remains a global standard. To access a list of scientific publications by year, please select below.


Key publications

  • S. Ōmura, Y. Iwai, A. Hirano, A. Nakagawa, J. Awaya, H. Tsuchiya, Y. Takahashi, and R. Masuma: A new alkaloid AM-2282 of Streptomyces origin. Fermentation, isolation and preliminary characterization. J. Antibiot., 30, 275-282 (1977).
  • R. W. Burg, B. M. Miller, E. E. Baker, J. Birnbaum, S. A. Currie, R. Hartman, Y.-L. Kong, R. Monaghan, G. Olson, I. Putter, J. B. Tunac, H. Wallick, E. O. Stapley, R. Oiwa and S. Ōmura. Avermectins, new family of potent anthelmintic agents: producing organism and fermentation. Antimicrob. Agents and Chemother., 15, 361-367 (1979). [pdf]
  • D. A. Hopwood, F. Malphatida, H. M. Kieser, H. Ikeda, J. Juncan, I. Fujii, B. A. M. Rudd, H. G. Floss, and S. Ōmura. Production of 'hybrid' antibiotics by genetic engineering. Nature, 314 (6012), 642-644 (1985). [full text]
  • S. Ōmura. Philosophy of new drug discovery. Microbiol. Rev., 50, 259-379 (1986). [pdf]
  • S. Ōmura, K. Tsuzuki, T. Sunazuka, S. Marui, H. Toyoda, N. Inatomi, and Z. Itoh:  Macrolides with gastrointestinal motor stimulating activity. J. Med. Chem., 30, 1941-1943 (1987).
  • S. Ōmura, T. Fujimoto, K. Otoguro, K. Matsuzaki, R. Moriguchi, H. Tanaka, and Y. Sasaki:  Lactacystin, a novel microbial metabolite, induces neuritogenesis of neuroblastoma cells. J. Antibiot., 44, 113-116 (1991).
  • H. Ikeda, T. Nonomiya, M. Usami, T. Ohta, and S. Ōmura. Organization of the biosynthetic gene cluster for the polyketide anthelmintic macrolide avermectin in Streptomyces avermitilis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 96, 9509-9514 (1999). [full text]
  • S. Ōmura, H. Miyadera, H. Ui, K. Shiomi, Y. Yamaguchi, R. Masuma, T. Nagamitsu, D. Takano, T. Sunazuka, A. Harder, H. Kolbl, M. Namikoshi, H. Sakamoto, and K. Kita. An anthelmintic compound, nafuredin, shows relative inhibition of complex I in helminth mitochondria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 98, 60-62 (2001). [full text]
  • S. Ōmura, H. Ikeda, J. Ishikawa, A. Hanamoto, C. Takahashi, M. Shinose, Y. Takahashi, H. Horikawa, H. Nakazawa, T. Osonoe, H. Kikuchi, T. Shiba, Y. Sakaki, and M. Hattori: Genome sequence of an industrial microorganism Streptomyces avermitilis: deducing the ability of producing secondary metabolites. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 98, 12215-12220 (2001).
  • M. Hayashi, M.-C. Rho, A. Enomoto, A. Fukami, Y.-P. Kim, Y. Kikuchi, T. Sunazuka, T. Hirose, K. Komiyama, and S. Ōmura. Suppression of bone resorption by madindoline A, a novel nonpeptide antagonist to gp130. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 99, 14728-14739 (2002). [full text]
  • H. Miyadera, K. Shiomi, H. Ui, Y. Yamaguchi, R. Masuma, H. Tomoda, H. Miyoshi, A. Osanai, K. Kita, and S. Ōmura. Atpenins, potent and specific inhibitors of mitochondria complex II (succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 100, 473-477 (2003). [full text]
  • H. Ikeda, J. Ishikawa, A. Hanamoto, M. Shinose, H. Kikuchi, T. Shiba, Y. Sasaki, M. Hattori, and S. Ōmura. Complete genome sequence and comparative analysis of the industrial microorganism Streptomyces avermitilis. Nature Biotechnol., 21, 526-531 (2003). [full text]
  • S. Ōmura and A. Crump. The life and times of ivermectin – a success story. Nature Reviews/Microbology, 2, 984-989 (2004). [PubMed]
  • T. Sunazuka and S. Ōmura. Total synthesis of α-pyrone meroterpenoids, novel bioactive microbial metabolites. Chem. Rev., 105, 4559-4580 (2005).
  • S. Ōmura: Ivermectin: 25 years and still going strong (Review article).  Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents, 31, 91-98 (2008).
  • I. Komuro, T. Sunazuka, K. S. Akagawa, Y. Yokota, A. Iwamoto, and S. Ōmura: Erythromycin
    derivatives inhibit HIV-1 replication in macrophages through modulation of MAPK activity to induce small isoforms of C/EBPb. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 105, 12509-12514 (2008).
  • H. Nakano and S. Ōmura: Chemical biology of natural indolocarbazole products: 30 years since the discovery of staurosporine (Review article). J. Antibiot., 62, 17-26 (2009).
  • T. Hirose, T. Sunazuka, A. Sugawara, A. Endo, K. Iguchi, T. Yamamoto, H. Ui, K. Shiomi, T. Watanabe, K. Barry Sharpless, and S. Ōmura: Chitinase inhibitors: extraction of the active framework from natural argifin and use of in situ click chemistry. J. Antibiot., 62, 277-282 (2009). [full text]
  • H. Tanaka, H. Chiba, J. Inokoshi, A. Kuno, T. Sugai, A. Takahashi, Y. Ito, M. Tdunoda, K. Suzuki, A. Takenaka, T. Sekiguchi, H. Umeyama, J. Hirabayashi,and S. Ōmura: Mechanism by which the lectin actinohivin blocks HIV infection of target cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 106, 15633-15638 (2009). [full text]
  • M. Komatsu, T. Uchiyama, S. Ōmura, D. E. Cane, and H. Ikeda: Genome-minimized Streptomyces host for the heterologous expression of secondary metabolims. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 107, 2646-2651 (2010). [full text]

  • T. Hirose, T. Sunazuka, and S. Ōmura: Recent development of two chitinase inhibitors, argifin and argadin, produced by soil microorganisms (Rev. article). Proc. Jpn. Acad., Ser. B86, 85-102 (2010). [full text]

  • K. Kimura, M. Iwatsuki, T. Nagai, A. Matsumoto, Y. Takahashi, K. Shiomi, S. Ōmura, and A. Abe: A small-molecule inhibitor of the bacterial type III secretion system protects against in vivo infection with Citrobacter rodentium. J. Antibiot., 64, 197-203 (2011). [full text]

  • S. Kitani, K. T. Miyamoto, S. Takamatsu, E. Herawati, H. Iguchi, K. Nishitomi, M. Uchida, T. Nagamitsu, S. Ōmura, H. Ikeda, and T. Nihira: Avenolide, a Streptomyces hormone controlling antibiotic production in  Streptomyces avermitilis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 108, 16410-16415 (2011). [full text]

  • S. Ōmura: Microbial metabolites: 45 years of wandering, wondering and discovering. Tetrahedron, 67, 6420-6459 (2011). [full text]