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Cinchona alkaloids have been used as drugs for the treatment of several diseases. Quinine is much popular as an antimalarial drug against the erythrocyte stage of the parasite. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research on the endophytes isolated from Cinchona plants has been reported. We predicted that endophytic microbes living in Cinchona plants would transform Cinchona alkaloids into their chemical derivatives. In the present paper, we report the microbial transformation of Cinchona alkaloids by the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. which was isolated from the young stems of Cinchona pubescens VAHL. (Rubiaceae). 1)The young stems of Cinchona pubescens collected in West Java, Indonesia, were cut into pieces ca. 1 cm in length and the exterior was sterilized with 70% EtOH and 5.3% sodium hypochlorite. Then the pieces were placed on corn-meal malt agar (CMMA) containing chroramphenicol and incubated at 27°C for 3 d. Then individual colonies on the plates were transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated again at 27°C for 5 d with periodic checks of purity to obtain a total of 10 endophytic filamentous fungi.Through several screening tests for the microbial transformation of Cinchona alkaloids by the 10 endophytic fungi, it was found that the filamentous fungus Xylaria sp.2) transforms four Cinchona alkaloid hydrochloride salts, i.e., quinine hydrochloride (1 · HCl), quinidine hydrochloride (2 · HCl), cinchonidine hydrochloride (3 · HCl), and cinchonine hydrochloride (4 · HCl), into chemical derivatives in potato dextrose broth (PDB) medium.Each cultivation medium including the fungus bodies was homogenized and extracted with CHCl 3 . The CHCl 3 -soluble portion was separated by HPLC on Hibar LiChrosorb NH 2 to afford 1a (90% yield) from 1 · HCl, 2a (71% yield) from 2 · HCl, 3a (82% yield) from 3 · HCl, and 4a (52% yield) from 4 · HCl, respectively. Among those transformation products, 1a, 2a, and 3a were identified by comparisons of their physicochemical data (mp, [a] D , 1 H-, 13 C-NMR, IR, and UV) with those of quinine 1-N-oxide, 3-5) quinidine 1-N-oxide, [3][4][5][6] and cinchonidine 1-N-oxide, 3,7) respectively. 4a, which was transformed from cinchonine hydrochloride (4 · HCl), showed similar absorptions to those of 4 in the IR and UV spectra. The 13 C-NMR spectrum (in CD 3 OD) also showed similar signal patterns to those of 4, except the chemical shifts of 2-C (d 65.0), 6-C (d 66.6), and 8-C (d 74.0) observed in lower magnetic fields than those of 2-C (d 50.3), 6-C (d 50.9), and 8-C (d 61.3) for cinchonine (4). From the above findings, it was assumed that 4a might be cinchonine 1-N-oxide, which was previously prepared from 4 by Dodin et al. 7)The endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. was submitted to DNA analysis of the 18S, ITS-1, 5.8S, and ITS-2 rDNA regions. Comparison of the base sequences with those of the authentic Xylaria enteroleuca (CBS 651.89),8) analyzed by us, showed 99.9% similarity for the 18S region [X. enteroleuca (CBS 651.89): 3 gaps/2455 bp] and 100% similarity for the ITS1-5.8S-IT...

Six fatty acids (1-6), two xanthines (7, 8), two flavonol glycosides (9, 10), one monoterpene glucoside (11), one lignan glycoside (12), and four flavanes (13-16) were clarified by a bioassay-guided separation as chemical constituents of Scurrula atropurpurea (Loranthaceae), a parasitic plant of the tea plant Thea sinensis (Theaceae). Among these constituents, it was found that the alkynic fatty acid octadeca-8,10,12-triynoic acid (6) exhibits a more potent inhibitory effect on cancer cell invasion in vitro than flavanes [(+)-catechin (13), (-)-epicatechin (14), (-)-epicatechin-3-O-gallate (15) and (-)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (16)].

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A total of 21 endophytic filamentous fungi were isolated from the young stems of Cinchona ledgeriana (Rubiaceae) cultivated in West Java, Indonesia. They were classified into six genera, namely nine Phomopsis spp., six Diaporthe spp., two Schizophyllum spp., two Penicillium spp., one Fomitopsis sp., and one Arthrinium sp. by using nucleotide sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) including 5.8S ribosomal DNA region and phylogenetic analysis.

Mahkota dewa (Phaleria macrocarpa [Scheff.] Boerl.) is a poisonous plant, but almost all parts of the plants can be used as a traditional medicine. Consuming the plant directly can cause swollen, sprue, numb at tongue, fever, even unconscious. Although the plant can conquere various diseases, from diabetes mellitus, hemorrhoid, impotency to cancer, but research on the plant is still limited. A research was conducted to find out antioxidant activities at a parts of mahkota dewa plant by free radical scavenging method (DPPH). The highest activities of the parts of plant are young fruits and old fruits in the ethanol and methanol solvents. Then after partitioned based on the polarity (ethylacetate, n-buthanol and water) showed that n-buthanol extract of young fruits gave inhibition value IC 50 = 41,07 ppm.