Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from a Thai Collection of Soil and Marine-Derived Fungi of the Genera Neosartorya and Aspergillus.

BACKGROUND: Fungi are microorganisms which can produce interesting secondary metabolites with structural diversity. Although terrestrial fungi have been extensively investigated for their bioactive secondary metabolites such as antibiotics, marine-derived fungi have only recently attracted attention of Natural Products chemists.

METHODS: Our group has been working on the secondary metabolites produced by the cultures of the fungi of the genera Neosartorya and Aspergillus, collected from soil and marine environments from the tropical region for the purpose of finding new leads for anticancer and antibacterial drugs.

RESULTS: This review covers only the secondary metabolites of four soil and six marine-derived species of Neosarorya as well as a new species of marine-derived Aspergillus, investigated by our group. In total, we have isolated fifty three secondary metabolites which can be categorized as polyketides (two), isocoumarins (six), terpenoids (two), meroterpenes (fourteen), alkaloids (twenty eight) and cyclic peptide (one). The anticancer and antibacterial activities of these fungal metabolites are also discussed.

CONCLUSION: Among fifty three secondary metabolites isolated, only the alkaloid eurochevalierine and the cadinene sesquiterpene, isolated from the soil fungus N. pseudofisheri, showed relevant in vitro cytostatic activity against glioblastoma (U373) and non-small cell lung cancer (A549) cell lines while the meroditerpene aszonapyrone A exhibited strong antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria and also strong antibiofilm activity in these isolates.