Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun;55(2):1251-1263.
doi: 10.1007/s42770-024-01308-y. Epub 2024 Mar 16.

Antarctic fungi produce pigment with antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities

Sabrina Barros Cavalcante  1 , André Felipe da Silva  2 , Lucas Pradi  3 , Jhuly Wellen Ferreira Lacerda  3 , Tiago Tizziani  3 , Louis Pergaud Sandjo  3 , Lenon Romano Modesto  4 , Ana Claudia Oliveira de Freitas  1 , Mario Steindel  1 , Patricia Hermes Stoco  1 , Rubens Tadeu Delgado Duarte  1 , Diogo Robl  5
Affiliations

Antarctic fungi produce pigment with antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities

Sabrina Barros Cavalcante et al. Braz J Microbiol. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Natural pigments have received special attention from the market and industry as they could overcome the harm to health and the environmental issues caused by synthetic pigments. These pigments are commonly extracted from a wide range of organisms, and when added to products they can alter/add new physical-chemical or biological properties to them. Fungi from extreme environments showed to be a promising source in the search for biomolecules with antimicrobial and antiparasitic potential. This study aimed to isolate fungi from Antarctic soils and screen them for pigment production with antimicrobial and antiparasitic potential, together with other previously isolated strains A total of 52 fungi were isolated from soils in front of the Collins Glacier (Southeast border). Also, 106 filamentous fungi previously isolated from the Collins Glacier (West border) were screened for extracellular pigment production. Five strains were able to produce extracellular pigments and were identified by ITS sequencing as Talaromyces cnidii, Pseudogymnoascus shaanxiensis and Pseudogymnoascus sp. All Pseudogymnoascus spp. (SC04.P3, SC3.P3, SC122.P3 and ACF093) extracts were able to inhibit S. aureus ATCC6538 and two (SC12.P3, SC32.P3) presented activity against Leishmania (L.) infantum, Leishmania amazonensis and Trypanossoma cruzii. Extracts compounds characterization by UPLC-ESI-QToF analysis confirmed the presence of molecules with biological activity such as: Asterric acid, Violaceol, Mollicellin, Psegynamide A, Diorcinol, Thailandolide A. In conclusion, this work showed the potential of Antartic fungal strains from Collins Glacier for bioactive molecules production with activity against Gram positive bacteria and parasitic protozoas.

Keywords: Pseudogymnoascus; Talaromyces; Antarctic; Antimicrobial molecules; Natural pigments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Fungal colonial morphology on PDA (7 days at 15 °C) and fungal pigment extraction with methanol (MetOH), water (H2O) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) of Pseudogymnoascus sp. SC04.P3 (A); Pseudogymnoascus sp. SC12.P3 (B); Pseudogymnoascus sp. SC32.P3 (C); Pseudogymnoascus sp. ACF093 (D); Talaromyces cnidii SC34.P3 (E)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic tree of Talaromyces (A), Pseudogymnoascus (B) and respectively related species based on confidently ITS sequences constructed with Maximum-likelihood implemented in MEGA v6
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rosa LH, Zani CL, Cantrell CL, Duke SO, Van Dijck P, Desideri A. Fungi in Antarctica: diversity, ecology, effects of climate change, and bioprospection for bioactive compounds. In: Rosa LH, editor. Fungi of Antarctica: diversity, ecology and biotechnological applications. 1. Springer; 2019. pp. 1–17.
    1. Mitrović T, Stamenković S, Cvetković V, Nikolić M, Tošić S, Stojičić D. Lichens as source of versatile bioactive compounds: an open window for green therapy against diverse cancers. Biol Nyssana. 2011;2(1):1–6.
    1. Sajjad W, Din G, Rafiq M, Iqbal A, Khan S, Zada S, et al. Pigment production by cold-adapted bacteria and fungi: colorful tale of cryosphere with wide range applications. Extremophiles. 2020;24(4):447–473. doi: 10.1007/s00792-020-01180-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tuli HS, Chaudhary P, Beniwal V, Sharma AK. Microbial pigments as natural color sources: current trends and future perspectives. J Food Sci Technol. 2015;52(8):4669–4678. doi: 10.1007/s13197-014-1601-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sarli DA, Sánchez LA, Delgado OD. Burkholderia gladioli MB39 an antarctic strain as a biocontrol agent. Curr Microbiol. 2021;78(6):2332–2344. doi: 10.1007/s00284-021-02492-y. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources