Identification of a Sorbicillinoid-Producing Aspergillus Strain with Antimicrobial Activity Against Staphylococcus aureus: a New Polyextremophilic Marine Fungus from Barents Sea

• Published in: Marine biotechnology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 502 - 511
• Main Authors: Corral, Paulina, Esposito, Fortunato Palma, Tedesco, Pietro, Falco, Angela, Tortorella, Emiliana, Tartaglione, Luciana, Festa, Carmen, D’Auria, Maria Valeria, Gnavi, Giorgio, Varese, Giovanna Cristina, de Pascale, Donatella
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-08-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alkenes - pharmacology; Anti-Bacterial Agents - metabolism; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibacterial activity; Antimicrobial activity; Antimicrobial agents; Aspergillus; Aspergillus - chemistry; Aspergillus - isolation & purification; Bacteria; Bacteria - chemistry; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bio-assays; Bioactive compounds; Bioassays; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemical analysis; Cyclohexanones - pharmacology; Earth; Engineering; Exploration; Fermentation; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Fungi; Fungi - chemistry; Fungi - isolation & purification; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Growth conditions; Halophilic bacteria; Identification; Life Sciences; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiological strains; Microbiology; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Oceans and Seas; Original Article; Seawater; Sediments; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Water analysis; Zoology; Barents Sea; Marine fungi; Antimicrobial activity; MDR; Sediments; Bisvertinolone; Aspergillus protuberus
• ISSN: 1436-2228; 1436-2236
• DOI: 10.1007/s10126-018-9821-9

The exploration of poorly studied areas of Earth can highly increase the possibility to discover novel bioactive compounds. In this study, the cultivable fraction of fungi and bacteria from Barents Sea sediments has been studied to mine new bioactive molecules with antibacterial activity against a panel of human pathogens. We isolated diverse strains of psychrophilic and halophilic bacteria and fungi from a collection of nine samples from sea sediment. Following a full bioassay-guided approach, we isolated a new promising polyextremophilic marine fungus strain 8Na, identified as
Aspergillus
protuberus
MUT 3638, possessing the potential to produce antimicrobial agents. This fungus, isolated from cold seawater, was able to grow in a wide range of salinity, pH and temperatures. The growth conditions were optimised and scaled to fermentation, and its produced extract was subjected to chemical analysis. The active component was identified as bisvertinolone, a member of sorbicillonoid family that was found to display significant activity against
Staphylococcus aureus
with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 30 μg/mL.