Natural phenolic metabolites from endophytic Aspergillus sp. IFB-YXS with antimicrobial activity

Prompted by the pressing necessity to conquer phytopathogenic infections, the antimicrobial compounds were characterized with bioassay-guided method from the ethanol extract derived from the solid-substrate fermentation of Aspergillus sp. IFB-YXS, an endophytic fungus residing in the apparently healthy leave of Ginkgo biloba L. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity and mechanism(s) of these bioactive compounds against phytopathogens. Among the compounds, xanthoascin (1) is significantly inhibitory on the growth of the phytopathogenic bacterium Clavibacter michiganense subsp. Sepedonicus with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 0.31μg/ml, which is more potent than streptomycin (MIC 0.62μg/ml), an antimicrobial drug co-assayed herein as a positive reference. Moreover, terphenyl derivatives 3, 5 and 6 are also found to be active against Other phytopathogens including Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae Swings, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola Swings, Erwinia amylovora and Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans etc. The Antibacterial mechanism of xanthoascin (1) was addressed to change the cellular permeability of the phytopathogens, leading to the remarkable leakage of nucleic acids out of the cytomembrane. The work highlights the possibility that xanthoascin (1), an analogue of xanthocillin which is used to be an approved Antibiotic, may find its renewed application as a potent Antibacterial agrichemical. This study contributes to the development of new antimicrobial drugs, especially against C. michiganense subsp. Sepedonicus.

Antimicrobial activity; Bioassay-guided fractionation; Terphenyl derivatives; Xanthoascin.