Endophytic fungi live inside vegetal tissues without causing damage to the host plant and may provide lead compounds for drug discovery. The co-culture of two or more endophytic fungi can trigger silent gene clusters, which could lead to the isolation of bioactive compounds. In this study, two endophytic strains isolated from Handroanthus impetiginosus leaves, identified as Talaromyces purpurogenus H4 and Phanerochaete sp. H2, were grown in mixed and axenic cultures. The meroterpenoid austin was detected only in the extracts from the mixed culture. Once isolated, austin displayed very interesting trypanocidal activity, with an IC 50 value of 36.6 ± 1.2 μg/mL against Trypanosoma cruzi in the epimastigote form. The results obtained highlight the importance of the co-culturing of endophytic fungi to obtain natural bioactive products. The findings also enhance our understanding of the ecological relationships between endophytic fungi.

Coumarins are natural 1,2-benzopyrones, present in remarkable amounts as secondary metabolites in edible and medicinal plants. The low yield in the coumarins isolation from natural sources, along with the difficulties faced by the total synthesis, make them attractive for biotechnological studies. The current literature contains several reports on the biotransformation of coumarins by fungi, which can generate chemical analogs with high selectivity, using mild and eco-friendly conditions. Prompted by the enormous pharmacological interest in the coumarin-related compounds, their alimentary and chemical applications, this review covers the biotransformation of coumarins by filamentous fungi. The chemical structures of the analogs were presented and compared with those from the pattern structures. The main chemical reactions catalyzed the insertion of functional groups, and the impact on the biological activities caused by the chemical transformations were discussed. Several chemical reactions can be catalyzed by filamentous fungi in the coumarin scores, mainly lactone ring opening, C3-C4 reduction and hydroxylation. Chunninghamella sp. and Aspergillus sp. are the most common fungi used in these transformations. Concerning the substrates, the biotransformation of pyranocoumarins is a rarer process. Sometimes, the bioactivities were improved by the chemical modifications and coincidences with the mammalian metabolism were pointed out.

Natural coumarins are present in remarkable amounts as secondary metabolites in edible and medicinal plants, where they display interesting bioactivities. Considering the wide enzymatic arsenal of filamentous fungi, studies on the biotransformation of coumarins using these microorganisms have great importance in green chemical derivatization. Several reports on the biotransformation of coumarins using fungi have highlighted the achievement of chemical analogs with high selectivity by using mild and ecofriendly conditions. Prompted by the enormous pharmacological, alimentary, and chemical interest in coumarin-like compounds, this study evaluated the biotransformation of nine coumarin scaffolds using Cunninghamella elegans ATCC 10028b and Aspergillus brasiliensis ATCC 16404. The chemical reactions which were catalyzed by the microorganisms were highly selective. Among the nine studied coumarins, only two of them were biotransformed. One of the coumarins, 7-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrocyclopenta[c]chromen-4(1H)-one, was biotransformed into the new 7,9-dihydroxy-2,3-dihydrocyclopenta[c]chromen-4(1H)-one, which was generated by selective hydroxylation in an unactivated carbon. Our results highlight some chemical features of coumarin cores that are important to biotransformation using filamentous fungi.

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