Anthraquinones From Epicoccum sp., a Fungus Isolated From Gut of Dione juno That Feeds on Passifloras

ABSTRACT

Among The insects that visit Passifloras , adults of Dione juno juno lay its eggs on leaves where the recent born larva feeds and grow during great part of their life‐cycle, causing important negative impact on plant development. Recently, we decided to investigate the intestinal microbiota of the larva stage of this butterfly, in order to figure out how these microorganisms interact with each other. In the present study, during one of these microorganisms isolation it was obtained the fungus Epicoccum sp. along with five bacteria. Studies toward the discover of natural substances produced by this Epicoccum using mass spectrometry (MS/MS, molecular network by GNPS) and NMR spectroscopy of isolated compounds, resulted in the annotation and identification of 11 compounds belonging to the anthraquinone class of natural products. The major isolated anthraquinones were paquibasin ( 1 ), chrysophanol ( 2 ), paquibasic acid ( 3 ), and phomarin ( 4 ), two of which ( 1 and 2 ) were tested for their activity against five putatively Bacillus bacterial strains (L‐409, L‐410, L‐411, 412, and L‐414) which were co‐isolated with the fungus Epicoccum , being three bacteria susceptible, with compounds 1 and 2 shown to be the greater inhibitors, c.a. 30% of the amoxicillin potency.