title: An endophytic fungus from Hypericum perforatum that produces hypericin.
abstract: For the first time, an endophytic fungus has been isolated from the stems of the medicinal herb Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort). The fungus produced the napthodianthrone derivative hypericin ( 1) in rich mycological medium (potato dextrose broth) under shake flask and bench scale fermentation conditions. Emodin ( 2) was also produced simultaneously by the fungus under the same culture conditions. We propose 2 as the main precursor in the microbial metabolic pathway to 1. The fungus was identified by morphology and authenticated by 28S (LSU) rDNA sequencing. Compounds 1 and 2 were identified by LC-HRMS, LC-MS/MS, and LC-HRMS/MS and confirmed by comparison with authentic standards. In bioassays with a panel of laboratory standard pathogenic control strains, including fungi and bacteria, both fungal 1 and 2 possessed antimicrobial activity comparable to authentic standards. This endophytic fungus has significant scientific and industrial potential to meet the pharmaceutical demands for 1 in a cost-effective, easily accessible, and reproducible way.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Research (INFU), University of Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: Souvik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kusari
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamshöft
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zühlke
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spiteller
mesh_terms: D000873:Anthracenes; D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000187:drug effects; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D020902:Hypericum / Q000382:microbiology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010569:Perylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000873:Anthracenes; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D010569:Perylene; C004965:hypericin