The identification of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol as an antifungal metabolite produced by cutaneous bacteria of the salamander Plethodon cinereus.
Beneficial bacteria that live on salamander skins have the ability to inhibit pathogenic fungi. Our study aimed to identify the specific chemical agent(s) of this process and asked if any of the antifungal compounds known to operate in analogous plant-bacteria-fungi systems were present. Crude extracts of bacteria isolated from salamander skin were exposed to HPLC, UV-Vis, GC-MS, and HR-MS analyses. These investigations show that 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol is produced by the bacteria isolate Lysobacter gummosus (AB161361), which was found on the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus. Furthermore, exposure of the amphibian fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (isolate JEL 215), to different concentrations of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol resulted in an IC50 value of 8.73 microM, comparable to crude extract concentrations. This study is the first to show that an epibiotic bacterium on an amphibian species produces a chemical that inhibits pathogenic fungi.
Departments of Biology and Chemistry, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA.
Robert M
RM
Brucker
Cambria M
CM
Baylor
Robert L
RL
Walters
Antje
A
Lauer
Reid N
RN
Harris
Kevin P C
KP
Minbiole
D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D008411:Chytridiomycota / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D053528:Lysobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D010696:Phloroglucinol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014562:Caudata / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D045424:Complex Mixtures; C059817:2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol; D010696:Phloroglucinol