The Potential of Fatty Acids and Their Derivatives as Antifungal Agents: A Review

Abstract

Fungal contamination presents several problems: in humans, health issues arise from infections with opportunistic filamentous fungi and yeast, while in food, fungi cause spoilage and, in particular, in the case of mycotoxigenic fungi, can cause serious health issues. Several types of fatty acids and their derivatives, oxylipins, have been found to have inhibitory effect towards fungal growth and the production of mycotoxins. The use of fatty acids as antifungals could fulfil consumer’s requests of more natural and environmentally friendly compounds, while being less likely to promote fungal resistance. In addition, due to their nature, fatty acids are easily used as food additives. In this work, we review the most relevant and recent studies on the antifungal ability of fatty acids. We focused on saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, and oxylipins, their different impact on fungal inhibition, their proposed modes of action, and their ability to impair mycotoxin production. Applications of fatty acids as antifungals and their limitations are also addressed.

Metabolites Composition of Bacillus subtilis HussainT-AMU Determined by LC-MS and Their Effect on Fusarium Dry Rot of Potato Seed Tuber

“…Moreover, much research has demonstrated that most hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria can readily use alkanes in the C14-C20 range as an energy source [24]. Several reports have also described a combination of b-hydroxy fatty acids of dodecanoic, tetradecanoic, pentadecanoic, hexadecenoic, octadecanoic, (9)-octadecenoic and (9,12)-octadecadienoic in the lipopeptide biosurfactant [60], which was confirmed with our study. Saturated fatty acids have been reported to exert inhibitory activity towards some fungal species; hydrophobic groups of SFA seem to play a role in the antimicrobial activity.…”

Chemical Composition, Antifungal and Anti-Biofilm Activities of Volatile Fractions of Convolvulus althaeoides L. Roots from Tunisia

“…Benzyl Alcohol has been proven to induce attack on bacterial membranes and protein denaturation, following an increase of reactive oxygen species levels [ 42 ]. Linoleic acid as fatty acid was involved in affecting membrane permeability (pore formation and membrane destabilization), reducing hydrophobicity but being able to interfere with microbial metabolism or signaling [ 43 ]. Palmitic acid was observed to enhance hyphal growth for C. tropicalis through upregulation of hyphal wall protein (HWP1) and enhanced filamentous growth (EFG1) genes [ 44 ].…”

Foliar and Root Comparative Metabolomics and Phenolic Profiling of Micro-Tom Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Plants Associated with a Gene Expression Analysis in Response to Short Daily UV Treatments

“…Among these latter, (12Z,15Z)-9,10-epoxyoctadeca-12,15-dienoate and (9Z,12Z)-15,16-dihydroxyoctadeca-9,12-dienoate, which are involved in the production of hydroxy fatty acids from α-linolenic acid, were oppositely affected by the UV-B exposure, being increased or decreased, respectively. Since some hydroxylated fatty acids act as antifungal agents [ 27 ], the influence of UV-B radiation on this pathway may lead to changes in plant–pathogen interactions.…”