A review of the potential of lichen substances as antifungal agents: the effects of extracts and lichen secondary metabolites on Fusarium fungi

Abstract

The present meta-analysis provides literature data on the effect of lichen extracts and single secondary metabolites used against Fusarium spp. moulds. Lichen extracts were obtained from 51 corticolous, 17 terricolous and 18 saxicolous lichen species and 37 secondary compounds were tested against eight fungal species, i.e., Fusarium acuminatum, F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. fujikuroi, F. oxysporum, F. roseum, F. solani and F. udum. The researchers used several test methods, mostly to determine MIC and IZ. Extracts were obtained using several solvents, mainly organic ones with use of the Soxhlet apparatus. The most frequently tested species was F. oxysporum, against which lichen substances from Alectoria sarmentosa, Cladonia mitis, C. rangiferina, Flavoparmelia caperata, Hypotrachyna cirrhata, Leucodermia leucomelos, Parmotrema austrosinense, P. reticulatum, Physcia aipolia, Pseudevernia furfuracea, Roccella montagnei and Umbilicaria nylanderiana and secondary metabolites such as 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid, atranorin, lecanoric and (+)-usnic acids showed the highest antifungal potential. These agencies could compete with the potential of fungicides, such as flucytosine and fluconazole. Other species have been poorly investigated. Statistical analysis of literature data showed that the fungistatic potential of lichen extracts is significantly different from individual secondary metabolites. Similarly, the potential of secondary metabolites often differs significantly from that of non-lichen substances. This meta-analysis indicates the potential of lichen substances as future anti-fusarial agents.

Lichen Depsides and Tridepsides: Progress in Pharmacological Approaches

“…This compound exhibited strong activity against Fusarium fujikuroi (MIC value of 16 × 10 −3 mg/mL). This activity was higher than that of the flucytosine, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole drugs and similar to that of amphotericin B and posaconazole [ 73 ]. Furthermore, diffractaic acid was a potent antimycobacterial agent, with an MIC value of 15.6 μg/mL [ 31 ].…”

Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase and cholinesterase enzymes by acetone extract of Bryoria capillaris (Ach.) Brodo & D.Hawksw.

“…It is commonly known as "horsehair lichen" (Smith, 2009). Researchers reported antibacterial (Karagoz et al, 2018;Tas et al, 2019;Yılmaz Sarıözlü et al, 2016), antifungal (Furmanek et al, 2022a(Furmanek et al, , 2022b(Furmanek et al, , 2022c, anti-cancer (Goncu et al, 2020;Ozturk et al, 2021;Tripathi et al, 2022;Varol, 2018), antioxidant and antigenotoxic (Tas et al, 2017;Tufan-Cetin & Cetin, 2021;Turkez et al, 2014) effects of BC.…”

A spectrophotometric analysis of extracted water-soluble phenolic metabolites of lichens

“…In the secondary metabolism of lichens, about 45 classes of secondary compounds (Elix 2014 ), and phenolic ones are biosynthesized mainly in the acetate–polymalonate pathway (Prokop’ev et al 2018 )—these include the predominant depsides, depsidones or dibenzofurans/usnic acid derivatives. Also of importance are anthraquinones or higher aliphatic fatty acids synthesized by the same route, the latter being biosynthesized in the tricarboxylic acid pathway (Elix 2014 ; Goga et al 2018 ; Furmanek et al 2019 , 2022b , c ).…”