Abstract
Five new anthraquinones, morakotins A–E (1–5), together with seven known compounds, lunatin (6), rheoemodin (7), YM187781 (8), bislunatin (9), 6-(1-hydroxypentyl)-4-methoxypyran-2-one, 9,11-dehydoergrosterol peroxide, and cerevisterol, were isolated from the insect pathogenic fungus Cordyceps morakotii BCC 56811. The morakotin structures were elucidated from NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data. The absolute configurations of bianthraquinone compounds, morakotins C–E (3–5), were determined by application of the exciton chirality method. Compounds 3, 7, 8, and 9 showed weak to moderate antimycobacterial and antifungal activities. Compounds 4 and 8 exhibited antibacterial activity against both Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 3.13–25 µg ml−1), whereas compounds 3 and 9 were active against B. cereus (MIC 12.5 and 3.13 µg ml−1, respectively), and compound 7 was active against Acinetobacter baumannii (MIC 12.5 µg ml−1).
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), and Joint research grant from Thailand Research Fund (grant No. DBG5980002) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 81561148013). We thank Dr. Philip J. Shaw for manuscript editing.
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Wang, M., Kornsakulkarn, J., Srichomthong, K. et al. Antimicrobial anthraquinones from cultures of the ant pathogenic fungus Cordyceps morakotii BCC 56811. J Antibiot 72, 141–147 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-018-0135-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-018-0135-y
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