Taxonomic position of the genus Bicornispora and the appearance of a new species Bicornispora seditiosa.

The discovery of a second species of Bicornispora in Spain, B. seditiosa, which is closely related to B. exophiala but has smaller ascospores, narrower asci and different ecology, gave us the opportunity to culture and sequence the fungus. Phylogenetic analyses of rDNA regions including partial nuc 28S rDNA (28S) and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) supported a close relationship with species of the genus Lambertella (Rutstroemiaceae), placing Bicornispora, previously ascribed to Coryneliales, within Helotiales. This result confirmed an evolutionary linkage between certain inoperculate discomycetes such as Lambertella palmeri and derived cleistothecial forms (Bicornispora spp.). Based on analyses of morphological study and molecular phylogenetic analyses, a new combination Rutstroemia asphodeli is proposed for Ciboria asphodeli.

Effects of dry olive residue transformed by Coriolopsis floccosa (Polyporaceae) on the distribution and dynamic of a culturable fungal soil community.

Dry olive residue (DOR) is an abundant waste product resulting from a two-phase olive oil extraction system. Due to its high organic and mineral content, this material has been proposed as an organic soil amendment; however, it presents phytotoxic and microtoxic properties. Thus, a pretreatment is necessary before its application to soil. Among the strategies for the bioremediation of DOR is treatment with ligninolytic fungi, e.g. Coriolopsis floccosa. This work aimed to assess the diversity of culturable fungi in a soil of the southeast Iberian Peninsula and to evaluate the short-term impact of untransformed and C. floccosa-transformed DOR on soil mycobiota. A total of 1,733 strains were isolated by the particle filtration method and were grouped among 109 different species using morphological and molecular methods. The majority of isolates were ascomycetes and were concentrated among three orders: Hypocreales, Eurotiales and Capnodiales. The soil amendment with untransformed DOR was associated with a depression in fungal diversity at 30 days and changes in the proportions of the major species. However, when C. floccosa-transformed DOR was applied to the soil, changes in fungal diversity were less evident, and species composition was similar to unamended soil.

Isolation, structure, and biological activity of Phaeofungin, a cyclic lipodepsipeptide from a Phaeosphaeria sp. Using the Genome-Wide Candida albicans Fitness Test.

Phaeofungin (1), a new cyclic depsipeptide isolated from Phaeosphaeria sp., was discovered by application of reverse genetics technology, using the Candida albicans fitness test (CaFT). Phaeofungin is comprised of seven amino acids and a ß,γ-dihydroxy-γ-methylhexadecanoic acid arranged in a 25-membered cyclic depsipeptide. Five of the amino acids were assigned with d-configurations. The structure was elucidated by 2D-NMR and HRMS-MS analysis of the natural product and its hydrolyzed linear peptide. The absolute configuration of the amino acids was determined by Marfey's method by complete and partial hydrolysis of 1. The CaFT profile of the phaeofungin-containing extract overlapped with that of phomafungin (3), another structurally different cyclic lipodepsipeptide isolated from a Phoma sp. using the same approach. Comparative biological characterization further demonstrated that these two fungal lipodepsipeptides are functionally distinct. While phomafungin was potentiated by cyclosporin A (an inhibitor of the calcineurin pathway), phaeofungin was synergized with aureobasidin A (2) (an inhibitor of the sphingolipid biosynthesis) and to some extent caspofungin (an inhibitor of glucan synthase). Furthermore, phaeofungin caused ATP release in wild-type C. albicans strains but phomafungin did not. It showed modest antifungal activity against C. albicans (MIC 16-32 µg/mL) and better activity against Aspergillus fumigatus (MIC 8-16 µg/mL) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (MIC 4 µg/mL). The linear peptide was inactive, suggesting that the macrocyclic depsipeptide ring is essential for target engagement and antifungal activity.

Hypoxylon pulicicidum sp. nov. (Ascomycota, Xylariales), a pantropical insecticide-producing endophyte.

BACKGROUND: Nodulisporic acids (NAs) are indole diterpene fungal metabolites exhibiting potent systemic efficacy against blood-feeding arthropods, e.g., bedbugs, fleas and ticks, via binding to arthropod specific glutamate-gated chloride channels. Intensive medicinal chemistry efforts employing a nodulisporic acid A template have led to the development of N-tert-butyl nodulisporamide as a product candidate for a once monthly treatment of fleas and ticks on companion animals. The source of the NAs is a monophyletic lineage of asexual endophytic fungal strains that is widely distributed in the tropics, tentatively identified as a Nodulisporium species and hypothesized to be the asexual state of a Hypoxylon species. METHODS AND RESULTS: Inferences from GenBank sequences indicated that multiple researchers have encountered similar Nodulisporium endophytes in tropical plants and in air samples. Ascomata-derived cultures from a wood-inhabiting fungus, from Martinique and closely resembling Hypoxylon investiens, belonged to the same monophyletic clade as the NAs-producing endophytes. The hypothesis that the Martinique Hypoxylon collections were the sexual state of the NAs-producing endophytes was tested by mass spectrometric analysis of NAs, multi-gene phylogenetic analysis, and phenotypic comparisons of the conidial states. We established that the Martinique Hypoxylon strains produced an ample spectrum of NAs and were conspecific with the pantropical Nodulisporium endophytes, yet were distinct from H. investiens. A new species, H. pulicicidum, is proposed to accommodate this widespread organism. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Knowledge of the life cycle of H. pulicicidum will facilitate an understanding of the role of insecticidal compounds produced by the fungus, the significance of its infections in living plants and how it colonizes dead wood. The case of H. pulicicidum exemplifies how life cycle studies can consolidate disparate observations of a fungal organism, whether from environmental sequences, vegetative mycelia or field specimens, resulting in holistic species concepts critical to the assessment of the dimensions of fungal diversity.

Isolation and structural elucidation of cyclic tetrapeptides from Onychocola sclerotica.

Three new cyclic tetrapeptides (1-3) have been isolated from the crude fermentation extract of Onychocola sclerotica. The planar structures of 1-3 were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses using one- and two-dimensional NMR experiments and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The absolute configuration of the amino acid residues in each cyclotetrapeptide was established by Marfey's method. Compounds 1-3 displayed activity as cardiac calcium channel blockers (Cav1.2) but did not inhibit the hERG potassium channel and were not cytotoxic. These peptides are the first secondary metabolites ever reported from fungi of the order Arachnomycetales.

Kabatiella bupleuri sp. nov. (Dothideales), a pleomorphic epiphyte and endophyte of the Mediterranean plant Bupleurum gibraltarium (Apiaceae).

Bupleurum gibraltarium is an evergreen shrub endemic to southern Spain and northern Algeria and Morocco. We have collected and cultured an undescribed Kabatiella species that is consistently associated with the flower rachises and leaves of B. gibraltarium in the province of Granada. The fungus forms melanized acervuli on overwintered flower rachises. It also can be isolated from yeast-like conidial masses that emerge from senescing leaves and from surface-disinfected healthy leaves. Like other Kabatiella species, the fungus forms blastic falcate to lunate conidia simultaneously from the apex of conidiogenous cells in acervuli. In culture, melanized single-septate conidia form blastically from the vegetative hyphae that accumulate in yeast-like masses. These conidia germinate by budding to form secondary yeast-like cells or directly as hyphae. In culture, the fungus behaves like, and could be confused with, Aureobasidium and Hormonema species. We describe the growth of this species in agar media and its phylogenetic position based on the analyses of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene sequences. This new species is a sister species of the morphologically similar clover pathogen, K. caulivora.

Isolation, structure, and biological activities of Fellutamides C and D from an undescribed Metulocladosporiella (Chaetothyriales) using the genome-wide Candida albicans fitness test.

In a whole-cell mechanism of action (MOA)-based screening strategy for discovery of antifungal agents, Candida albicans was used, followed by testing of active extracts in the C. albicans fitness test (CaFT), which provides insight into the mechanism of action. A fermentation extract of an undescribed species of Metulocladosporiella that inhibited proteasome activity in a C. albicans fitness test was identified. The chemical genomic profile of the extract contained hypersensitivity of heterozygous deletion strains (strains that had one of the genes of the diploid genes knocked down) of genes represented by multiple subunits of the 25S proteasome. Two structurally related peptide aldehydes, named fellutamides C and D, were isolated from the extract. Fellutamides were active against C. albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus with MICs ranging from 4 to 16 µg/mL and against fungal proteasome (IC50 0.2 µg/mL). Both compounds showed proteasome activity against human tumor cell lines, potently inhibiting the growth of PC-3 prostate carcinoma cells, but not A549 lung carcinoma cells. In PC-3 cells compound treatment produced a G2M cell cycle block and induced apoptosis. Preliminary SAR studies indicated that the aldehyde group is critical for the antifungal activity and that the two hydroxy groups are quantitatively important for potency.

Discovery of the parnafungins, antifungal metabolites that inhibit mRNA polyadenylation, from the Fusarium larvarum complex and other Hypocrealean fungi.

Evaluation of fungal fermentation extracts with whole cell Candida albicans activity resulted in the identification of a novel class of isoxazolidinone-containing metabolites named parnafungins. Chemical-genetic profiling with the C. albicans fitness test identified the biochemical target as inhibition of polyadenosine polymerase, a component of the mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation complex. Parnafungins were discovered from fermentation extracts of fungi resembling F. larvarum isolated from plants, plant litter and lichens. Furthermore authentic strains of F. larvarum var. larvarum and F. larvarum var. rubrum could be induced to produce parnafungins and their degradation products in low titers. Relationships among strains of the F. larvarum complex (FLC), including parnafungin-producing strains, were examined by cladistic analyses of rDNA, mitochondrial rDNA, and two protein-coding genes, comparisons of antifungal activity and antifungal metabolite profiles, and morphological phenotypes. Integrated analyses of these data led to the conclusion that the diversity within the FLC exceeded the one-to-one correspondence between F. larvarum and its teleomorph Cosmospora aurantiicola. Based on multiple gene sequence analyses, strains of the FLC formed a monophyletic clade inclusive of the parnafungin-producing strains. The FLC, including newly discovered parnafungin-producing strains, could be resolved into at least six different lineages, possibly representing cryptic' species, of which one was not fully resolved from F. larvarum var. rubrum. Fusarium larvarum var. rubrum represents a species distinct from var. larvarum. Finally we report that two other species from the Hypocreales, Trichonectria rectipila and Cladobotryum pinarense, are able to produce parnafungins and their open-ring forms.

Distribution of the antifungal agents sordarins across filamentous fungi.

Sordarins are a class of natural antifungal agents which act by specifically inhibiting fungal protein synthesis through their interaction with the elongation factor 2, EF2. A number of natural sordarins produced by diverse fungi of different classes have been reported in the literature. We have run an exhaustive search of sordarin-producing fungi using two different approaches consecutively, the first one being a differential sensitivity screen using a sordarin-resistant mutant yeast strain run in parallel with a wild type strain, and the second one an empiric screen against Candida albicans followed by early detection of sordarins by LC-MS analysis. Using these two strategies we have detected as many as 22 new strains producing a number of different sordarin analogues, either known (sordarin, xylarin, zofimarin) or novel (isozofimarin and 4'-O-demethyl sordarin). Sordarin and xylarin were the most frequently found compounds in the class. The producing strains were subjected to sequencing of the ITS region to determine their phylogenetic affinities. All the strains were shown to belong to the Xylariales, being distributed across three families in this order, the Xylariaceae, the Amphisphaeriaceae, and the Diatrypaceae. Despite being screened in large numbers, we did not find sordarin production in any other fungal group, including those orders where sordarin producing fungi are known to exist (i.e., Sordariales, Eurotiales, and Microascales), suggesting that the production of sordarin is a trait more frequently associated to members of the Xylariales than to any other fungal order.

Isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of virgineone from Lachnum Wirgineum using the genome-wide Candida albicans fitness test.

A glycosylated tetramic acid, virgineone (1), was isolated from saprotrophic Lachnum virgineum. The antifungal activity of the fermentation extract of L. virgineum was characterized in the Candida albicans fitness test as distinguishable from other natural products tested. Bioassay-guided fractionation yielded 1, a tyrosine-derived tetramic acid with a C-22 oxygenated chain and a beta-mannose. It displayed broad-spectrum antifungal activity against Candida spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus with a MIC of 4 and 16 microg/mL, respectively. Virgineone was also identified in a number of Lachnum strains collected from diverse geographies and habitats.

Isolation, structure and antibacterial activity of pleosporone from a pleosporalean ascomycete discovered by using antisense strategy.

Protein synthesis is one of the best antibacterial targets that have led to the development of a number of highly successful clinical drugs. Protein synthesis is catalyzed by ribosome, which is comprised of a number of ribosomal proteins that help the catalysis process. Ribosomal protein S4 (RPSD) is one of the proteins that is a part of the ribosomal machinery and is a potential new target for the discovery of antibacterial agents. Screening of microbial extracts using antisense-sensitized rpsD Staphylococcus aureus strain led to the isolation of pleosporone, a new compound, with modest antibacterial activities with MIC ranging from 1 to 64 microg/mL. This compound showed the highest sensitivity for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, and exhibited MIC's of 4 and 1 microg/mL, respectively. Pleosporone showed modest selectivity for the inhibition of RNA synthesis compared to DNA and protein synthesis, and showed activity against HeLa cells. Isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of pleosporone have been described.

Antisense-guided isolation and structure elucidation of pannomycin, a substituted cis-decalin from Geomyces pannorum.

Antisense-based screening strategies can be used to sensitize a microorganism and selectively detect inhibitors against a particular cellular target of interest. A strain of Staphylococcus aureus that generates an antisense RNA against SecA,a central member of the protein secretion machinery, has been used to screen for novel antibacterials. Possible inhibitors of the SecA ATP-ase were selected with a high-throughput, two-plate agar-based whole cell differential sensitivity screen. After screening a library of over 115 000 natural products extracts with the SecA antisense strain, an extract of Geomyces pannorum was identified as providing increased activity against the sensitized strain as compared with the wild-type control. Bioassay-guided isolation of the active component from this fungal extract provided a new cis-decalin secondary metabolite, which we have named pannomycin.

Isolation, structure, and antibacterial activity of phaeosphenone from a Phaeosphaeria sp. discovered by antisense strategy.

Ribosomal protein S4 (RPSD), a part of the ribosomal small subunit, is one of the proteins that is a part of the ribosomal machinery and is a potential new target for the discovery of antibacterial agents. Continued screening of microbial extracts using antisense-sensitized rpsD Staphylococcus aureus strain led to the isolation of a new dimeric compound, phaeosphenone (2). Compound 2 showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, exhibiting MIC values ranging from 8 to 64 microg/mL. Phaeosphenone showed the highest sensitivity for Streptococcus pneumoniae (8 microg/mL) and inhibited the growth of Candida albicans with an MIC of 8 microg/mL. Phaeosphenone showed a modest selectivity for the inhibition of RNA synthesis over DNA and protein synthesis in S. aureus.

Isolation and structure elucidation of parnafungins, antifungal natural products that inhibit mRNA polyadenylation.

The Candida albicans Fitness Test, a whole-cell screening platform, was used to profile crude fermentation extracts for novel antifungal natural products with interesting mechanisms of action. An extract with intrinsic antifungal activity from the fungus Fusarium larvarum displayed a Fitness Test profile that strongly implicated mRNA processing as the molecular target responsible for inhibition of fungal growth. Isolation of the active components from this sample identified a novel class of isoxazolidinone-containing natural products, which we have named parnafungins. These natural products were isolated as an interconverting mixture of four structural- and stereoisomers. The isomerization of the parnafungins was due to a retro-Michael ring-opening and subsequent reformation of a xanthone ring system. This interconversion was blocked by methylation of an enol moiety. Structure elucidation of purified parnafungin derivatives was accomplished by X-ray crystallography and NMR analysis. The biochemical target of these natural products has been identified as the fungal polyadenosine polymerase. Parnafungins demonstrated broad spectrum antifungal activity with no observed activity against gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria. The intact isoxazolidinone ring was required for antifungal activity. In addition, the natural products were efficacious in a mouse model of disseminated candidiasis.

PAP inhibitor with in vivo efficacy identified by Candida albicans genetic profiling of natural products.

Natural products provide an unparalleled source of chemical scaffolds with diverse biological activities and have profoundly impacted antimicrobial drug discovery. To further explore the full potential of their chemical diversity, we survey natural products for antifungal, target-specific inhibitors by using a chemical-genetic approach adapted to the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans and demonstrate that natural-product fermentation extracts can be mechanistically annotated according to heterozygote strain responses. Applying this approach, we report the discovery and characterization of a natural product, parnafungin, which we demonstrate, by both biochemical and genetic means, to inhibit poly(A) polymerase. Parnafungin displays potent and broad spectrum activity against diverse, clinically relevant fungal pathogens and reduces fungal burden in a murine model of disseminated candidiasis. Thus, mechanism-of-action determination of crude fermentation extracts by chemical-genetic profiling brings a powerful strategy to natural-product-based drug discovery.

Noreupenifeldin, a tropolone from an unidentified ascomycete.

Noreupenifeldin ( 2), a new monotropolone derivative of the bistropolone eupenifeldin ( 1), was isolated from an unidentified ascomycete by bioassay-guided fractionation as part of our search for new anthelmintics. The structure of 1 was confirmed by comparison with literature data. The structure of 2 was elucidated from MS and 1D and 2D NMR data. Compounds 1 and 2 are diastereomers of pycnidione ( 3) and epolone A ( 4), respectively. Compounds 1- 3 were evaluated for their anthelmintic activity against the parasitic worm Hemonchus contortus. Compounds 1 and 3 exhibited modest in vitro activity, showing EC 90 50 and 83 microg/mL, respectively, in reducing motility of L3 larvae of H. contortus. Compound 2 was inactive, indicating that the second tropolone moiety is required for activity.

Molecular phylogenetic studies show Omphalina giovanellae represents a new section of Clitopilus (Agaricomycetes).

After reconsidering the specific characters of Omphalia giovanellae and applying data from the sequences of the D1-D2 domain of the 28S rRNA gene and the ITS region of material collected in Italy and Spain, the species is ascribed to the genus Clitopilus. Considering the rather peculiar characters, especially the smooth spores, C. giovanellae is ascribed to the new section Omphaloidei sect. nov. The species is illustrated with drawings of fresh basidiomata observed in situ, as well as with SEM micrographs of the spores. Also based on DNA sequence data, O. farinolens, recently described from Spain, is shown to be a synonym of C. giovanellae.

High-throughput culturing of fungi from plant litter by a dilution-to-extinction technique.

High-throughput bacterial cultivation has improved the recovery of slow-growing and previously uncultured bacteria. The most robust high-throughput methods are based on techniques of 'dilution to extinction' or 'extinction culturing'. The low-density partitioning of CFUs in tubes or microwells exploits the fact that the number of culturable species typically increases as inoculum density decreases. Bacterial high-throughput culturing methods were adapted to fungi to generate large numbers of fungal extinction cultures. The efficiency of extinction culturing was assessed by comparing it with particle filtration and automated plate-streaking. Equal volumes of particle suspension from five litter collections of the New Zealand forest tree Elaeocarpus dentatus were compared. Dilute particle suspensions of litter were pipetted into 48-well tissue culture plates containing 1 mL of agar medium per well. Particle volumes from the same samples were applied to continuous agar surfaces in Omnitray plates by automated streaking, and fungal diversity and richness were measured. The spectrum of isolates was assessed by microscopy and sequencing of the ITS or 28S region of the rRNA gene. Estimates of species diversity between the two methods were comparable, but extinction culturing increased species richness. Compared with plating methods using continuous surfaces, extinction culturing distributes fungal propagules over partitioned surfaces. Intercolony interactions are reduced, permitting longer incubation times, and colony initiation and recovery improved. Effort to evaluate and recover colonies from fungal isolation plates was substantially reduced.

Studies on Morinia: recognition of Morinia longiappendiculata sp. nov. as a new endophytic fungus, and a new circumscription of Morinia pestalozzioides.

A new coelomycete, Morinia longiappendiculata sp. nov., isolated from living stems of four plant species in central Spain, is described. The distinctive morphological characteristics of this fungus are the production of conidia with long basal and apical appendages on filiform conidiogenous cells that contrasts with the short-appendaged conidia and cylindrical conidiogenic cells of the type species, M. pestalozzioides. Comparative sequence analysis of the ITS rDNA region and fragments of the translation elongation factor 1alpha, actin and chitin synthase 1 genes and the study of the HPLC profiles of the M. longiappendiculata and M. pestalozzioides isolates supported the recognition of the new species. Comparison of the ITS rDNA sequences of the Morinia isolates with GenBank sequences indicated that the genus belongs to the Amphisphaeriaceae with the highest similarity to Bartalinia and Truncatella. Bresadola's original definition of M. pestalozzioides is updated by adding information on conidiogenesis and molecular data. A lectotype and epitype are designated for the species. A study of bioactive metabolites revealed that M. pestalozzioides cultures produced moriniafungin, a novel sordarin analog with potent antifungal activity.