Efficient production of Aschersonia placenta protoplasts for transformation using optimization algorithms.

The insect pathogenic fungus Aschersonia placenta is a highly effective pathogen of whiteflies and scale insects. However, few genetic tools are currently available for studying this organism. Here we report on the conditions for the production of transformable A. placenta protoplasts using an optimized protocol based on the response surface method (RSM). Critical parameters for protoplast production were modelled by using a Box-Behnken design (BBD) involving 3 levels of 3 variables that was subsequently tested to verify its ability to predict protoplast production (R(2) = 0.9465). The optimized conditions resulted in the highest yield of protoplasts ((4.41 ± 0.02) × 10(7) cells/mL of culture, mean ± SE) when fungal cells were treated with 26.1 mg/mL of lywallzyme for 4 h of digestion, and subsequently allowed to recover for 64.6 h in 0.7 mol/L NaCl-Tris buffer. The latter was used as an osmotic stabilizer. The yield of protoplasts was approximately 10-fold higher than that of the nonoptimized conditions. Generated protoplasts were transformed with vector PbarGPE containing the bar gene as the selection marker. Transformation efficiency was 300 colonies/(µg DNA·10(7) protoplasts), and integration of the vector DNA was confirmed by PCR. The results show that rational design strategies (RSM and BBD methods) are useful to increase the production of fungal protoplasts for a variety of downstream applications.

Extraction, identification and antimicrobial activity of a new furanone, grifolaone A, from Grifola frondosa.

A furanone (1), (S)-methyl 2-(2-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-2-yl)acetate, was isolated from the edible mushroom Grifola frondosa. Mass spectrometry and NMR analyses were used to elucidate the structure of this compound, and its absolute configuration was determined using circular dichroism spectroscopy. Compound 1 exhibited specific antifungal activity against the plant pathogens, Fusarium oxysporum, Gibberella zeae and Piricularia oryzae and the opportunistic human pathogen, Pseudallescheria boydii, resulting in minimum inhibitory concentration values of 2.5, 2.5, 1.25 and 0.15 µg/mL, respectively. In contrast, the furanone showed only weak activity towards Aspergillus spp., Candida albicans and several other fungal strains tested as well as no appreciable antibacterial activity.

A new azaphilone from the entomopathogenic fungus Hypocrella sp.

This report describes the isolation of a new azaphilone, designated hypocrellone A (2), together with five known compounds (1, 3-6) from a submerged culture of the entomopathogenic fungus Hypocrella sp. (isolate WYTY-21). The absolute stereostructures of the two compounds (1 and 2) were elucidated based on 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data combined with the data from various chemical transformations. Hypocrellone A (2) and three (3-6) of the five known compounds were cytotoxic to hepatoma cells (cell line BEL-7404); IC50 values ranged from 6.2 to 17.4 µM. At 200 µM, none of the six compounds was toxic to normal human liver cells (cell line HL-7702) or to normal human kidney epithelial cells (cell line HEK-293T).