Cytotoxic, immunosuppressive, trypanocidal and antileishmanial activities of Basidiomycota fungi present in Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil

Abstract

One hundred three Basidiomycota fungi representing 84 species and 17 families were collected from different Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil. Their basidiomes and fermentation broth extracts were screened in a bioassay panel that included three human cancer cells lines, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), the enzyme trypanothione reductase (TryR) from Trypanosoma cruzi, and amastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis. Forty-two extracts representing 21 genera and 35 species presented activities higher than 60% in one or more assays employed in this study. Eighteen extracts were toxic to one or more human cancer cell lines. Extracts from Lentinus strigosus CCB 178 and Lentinus sp. UFMGCB 38 showed selectivity towards cancer cells as they showed only a minor impact on PBMCs. Six extracts suppressed PBMCs proliferation and showed low toxic effect to cancer cells. Thirty-four extracts inhibited the activity of the TryR. Of these, five showed low toxicity towards PBMCs. Extracts from Gymnopilus areolatus, Irpex lacteus, L. strigosus, Nothopanus hygrophanus, Pleurotus flabellatus, and unidentified Basidiomycetes were toxic to L. amazonensis. The results of this screening reinforce the potential of Basidiomycota fungi as sources of bioactive natural products that may be developed into new therapeutic agents for cancer and neglected diseases such as trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Microbial Ecology of Thailand Tsunami and Non-Tsunami Affected Terrestrials

“…Like prokaryotic phyla distribution patterns among various terrestrial depths (Figure 4B), the more similar eukaryotic phyla distribution patterns among various terrestrial depths were evident in S 1 (Figure 8B) highlighted the factor that a massive tsunami hit could destroy the biodiversity within microbial ecosystems. Basidiomycota, which were found more evident in S 2 , are higher fungi that play important roles as carbon recycler and nutrient decomposer, and posed the chief source of bioactive natural products [54]–[56].…”

Antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi associated with Orchidaceae in Brazil

“…This case of similar MIC values suggests that these particular isolates could have the same clonal origin. Several prior studies also reported differences in the biological activities among fungal isolates of the same species (Peláez et al 1998;Rosa et al 2003Rosa et al , 2009Phongpaichit et al 2006). In addition, these results suggest that more than one strain per species should be tested when examining biological activities.…”

“…The protocol for DNA extraction of filamentous fungi was conducted according to Rosa et al (2009). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) domains of the rRNA gene were amplified with the universal primers ITS1 (5'-TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG-3') and ITS4 (5'-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-3'), as described by White et al (1990).…”

Anti-leishmanial Activities of Extracts and Isolated Compounds fromDrechslera rostrataandEurotium tonpholium

“…TH28 have anti‐leishmanial activity and caused mortality to promastigotes of Leishmania Mexicana . However, extracts of fungi belonging to the genera Alternaria, Antarctomyces, Cadophora, Davidiella, Helgardia, Herpotrichia, Microdochium, Oculimacula , Phaeosphaeria (Santiago et al ., ), and Basidiomycota (Rosa et al ., ) inhibited the proliferation of L. amazonesis . Therefore, our aim was to study the anti‐leishmanial activity of filamentous fungi and eventually the isolation and identification of the active compound(s).…”