In a screening for new bioactive compounds, the extract of Allantophomopsis lycopodina strain IBWF58B-05A, an imperfect ascomycete, was found to exhibit strong but rather selective antibiotic activity against Paecilomyces variotii. The bioactivityguided isolation yielded allantofuranone, a new and uncommon c-lactone. This compound showed antifungal activity against P. variotii and Penicillium species. This paper describes the isolation, structure elucidation and biological characteristics of allantofuranone. The Journal of Antibiotics (2009) Keywords: allantofuranone; Allantophomopsis; antifungal; g-lactone
INTRODUCTIONFungi associated with plants have to adapt to environments differing greatly in their chemical composition and varying substantially during the host's development. They have to cope both with the plants defense and competing microorganisms and have therefore developed a rich and diverse secondary metabolism as part of their survival strategy. Allantophomopsis lycopodina is a plant pathogen responsible for leaf lesions on lingonberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea 1 and a fruit-rot pathogen (black rot) on cranberries, V. macrocarpon. 2 To our knowledge, no secondary metabolites have been reported from this species. A closer look into the compounds produced during fermentations of our strain, however, revealed the presence of an antifungal antibiotic. In the following, we describe the production, isolation, structure elucidation and biological activities of allantofuranone (1), a new and unusual g-lactone.