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This study investigated metabolites with activities against plant parasite nematodes from the fresh-water fungus Caryospora callicarpa YMF1.01026. We obtained three novel tetradecalactone metabolites, caryospomycins A-C, with such activities. The chemical structures of these were determined through NMR spectroscopic analysis and were found to belong to the 14-membered macrolides with a fused 1,2-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzene ring, a rare structure among the resorcylides. In the in vitro tests, all three compounds exhibited moderate killing activity against the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. To our knowledge, this is the first report of secondary metabolites in the aquatic fungal genus Caryospora.

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Chloranthus, a genus of the family Chloranthaceae, which is mainly distributed in eastern and southern Asia, has been used in Chinese folk medicine due to its antitumor, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory activities. This review compiles the research on isolation, structure elucidation, structural diversity, and bioactivities of Chloranthus secondary metabolites reported between 2007 and 2013. The metabolites listed encompass 82 sesquiterpenoids, 50 dimeric sesquiterpenoids, 15 diterpenoids, one coumarin, and five other compounds. Among them, dimeric sesquiterpenoids, the characteristic components of plants from the genus Chloranthus, have attracted considerable attention due to their complex structures and significant biological features, e.g., antitumor, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective activities, and potent and selective inhibition of the delayed rectifier (IK) K(+) current and tyrosinase.

SUMMARYBio-hydrogen production from sweet sorghum stalk using mixed anaerobic sludge was reported in this paper. Batch tests were carried out to analyze influences of several environmental factors on yield of H 2 from sweet sorghum stalk under constant mesophillic temperature (36711C). The experimental results showed that, for the raw stalk, the cumulative hydrogen yield was 52.1 ml g À1 Á TVS with utilization percentages of sugars, hemi-cellulose and cellulose in the stalk being 89.12, 15.23 and 13.89% respectively; whereas for the stalk pretreated by 0.4% NaOH solution at room temperature for 24 h, the cumulative hydrogen yield was 127.26 ml g À1 Á TVS with utilization percentages of sugars, hemi-cellulose and cellulose being 99.17, 53.64, 41.56%, respectively. The hydrogen content in the biogas was about 53% while the methane content was less than 4% throughout the study. Besides hydrogen and methane, the main metabolic products detected were ethanol, propionate and butyrate. The experimental results suggested that the alkalization pretreatment of the substrate plays a crucial role in the conversion of the sweet sorghum stalk wastes into bio-hydrogen by the mixed anaerobic sludge.

Fungal endophytes live widely inside plant tissues and some have been revealed to provide benefits to their host and ecological environment. Considering the fact that endophytes are engaged in remarkably stable long-term interactions with the host for their whole life cycle, it’s conceivable that both partners have substantial influence on each other’s metabolic processes. Here, we investigated the fermented products of an endophytic fungus Umbelopsis dimorpha SWUKD3.1410 grown on host–plant Kadsura angustifolia and wheat bran, respectively, to assess the impact of SWUKD3.1410 on the secondary metabolites of K. angustifolia. Twenty compounds (1–20) were isolated and identified as 11 schitriterpenoids (1–9, 17–18), two lignans (10, 20), two sesquiterpenoids (11–12), one trinorsesquiterpenoid (13), one monoterpene (14), one sterol (19), and two simple aromatic compounds (15–16) by the extensive 1D-, 2D-NMR and HR-ESI-MS data analysis. Except for nigranoic acid (1), compounds 2–19 have been firstly found from K. angustifolia. Of them, metabolites 2, 11, and 14 were identified to be new. Obtained results indicated that U. dimorpha SWUKD3.1410 could not only produce the same/similar components as its host does, and modify the host–plant components, but also enhance the production of these highly oxygenated schitriterpenoids/schinortriterpenoids in plants. This study suggested an interesting prospective for setting up alternative processing techniques to improve the quality of crude drugs derived from K. angustifolia and increase their values.

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