Congratulations to the Loesgen Lab for their paper "Anthracaurisin A─Discovery of a Cytotoxic Nor-Sesquiterpene Dimer from Patagonian Anthracophyllum discolor" in the ACS Journal of Natural Products. In this project Dr. Bastien Petit discovered a novel compound from a Patagonian fungus with potent cytotoxic activity. This research was a collaboration of several current and previous Loesgen Lab members (Dr. Bastien Petit, Ines Michrafy, Grayce Dyer and Dr. Erin Marshall), colleagues from Chile, and Whitney faculty Dr. James Strother.
Abstract
Fungal natural products, also called secondary metabolites (SMs), continue to inspire chemists and drug development. Around 30,000 fungal SMs are known, mainly from filamentous fungi of the phylum Ascomycota. Only 5% of all fungal species are described today, and even fewer have been cultured or chemically screened, which makes fungi an untapped reservoir for chemical discovery. The phylum Basidiomycota harbors chemically talented fungi such as the psilocybin producer Psilocybe cubensis (Agaricales, Hymenogastraceae), but other members like the genus Anthracophyllum (Agaricales, Omphalotaceae) remain largely genetically and chemically underexplored although new species are being discovered frequently. Here, we present the chemical and bioactivity exploration of a Chilean Anthracophyllum discolor fungus. We discovered anthracaurisin A, the first fungal nor-sesquiterpene homodimer with potent cytotoxic activity in vitro and in vivo, isolated one new and several known illudins, and established their absolute configurations.
Full Paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.6c00531