ABSTRACT
Secondary metabolites are well known for their ability to impede other microorganisms. Reanalysis of a screen of natural products using the Caenorhabditis elegans-Candida albicans infection model identified twelve microbial secondary metabolites capable of conferring an increase in survival to infected nematodes. In this screen, the two compound treatments conferring the highest survival rates were members of the epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) family of fungal secondary metabolites, acetylgliotoxin and a derivative of hyalodendrin. The abundance of fungal secondary metabolites indentified in this screen prompted further studies investigating the interaction between opportunistic pathogenic fungi and Aspergillus fumigatus, because of the ability of the fungus to produce a plethora of secondary metabolites, including the well studied ETP gliotoxin. We found that cell-free supernatant of A. fumigatus was able to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans through the production of a secreted product. Comparative studies between a wild-type and an A. fumigatus ΔgliP strain unable to synthesize gliotoxin demonstrate that this secondary metabolite is the major factor responsible for the inhibition. Although toxic to organisms, gliotoxin conferred an increase in survival to C. albicans-infected C. elegans in a dose dependent manner. As A. fumigatus produces gliotoxin in vivo, we propose that in addition to being a virulence factor, gliotoxin may also provide an advantage to A. fumigatus when infecting a host that harbors other opportunistic fungi.
Subject(s)
Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Candida albicans/drug effects , Acetyldigitoxins/chemistry , Acetyldigitoxins/pharmacology , Animals , Antifungal Agents/chemistry , Aspergillus fumigatus/metabolism , Caenorhabditis elegans/microbiology , Gliotoxin/chemistry , Gliotoxin/pharmacology , Piperazines/chemistry , Piperazines/pharmacologyABSTRACT
The interest of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) and microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) for the resolution of four cardiac glycosides is demonstrated. First, the influence of some parameters on the resolution of the solutes in MEKC such as the concentration of the surfactant, pH, addition of organic modifiers and urea is discussed. Then, results are compared with those obtained in MEEKC using different microemulsion compositions. Results indicate that MEEKC possesses several advantages over MEKC for the separation of relatively hydrophobic compounds such as digitalic compounds. First, microemulsions allow a better manipulation of the migration time window and of the retention of the solutes. Moreover, efficiency is improved with shorter analysis time.
