Abstract
Taxus wallachiana, Nepalase yew, has many associated endophytic fungi. One of these is a Phoma sp. that lives primarily in the intercellular spaces of tissues in the phloem/cambial region of the tree limbs producing two antibiotic substances: altersolanol A and 2-hydroxy-6-methylbenzoic acid. These compounds were isolated from fungal culture, crystallized, bioassayed, and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The presence of endophytic fungi raises the question as to their role in the tree, however, we suggest that the T. wallachiana/Phoma sp. relationship is a mutualistic one. Normally, the organic solvent extract of yew is not antibacterial, however the organic solvent extract of T. media c.v. Hicksii, inoculated with Phoma sp., possessed antibacterial activity. This extract contains altersolanol A as demonstrated by chromatographic and mass spectroscopic analyses.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Plant Science |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1994 |
Funding
The authors thank the Royal Nepalese Academy of Sciences, Dr. B. Bashyal and others for helping to acquire T. wallachiana in North Central Nepal. Dr. Joe Sears kindly did the mass spectroscopy reported herein. Mr. Mike Standing assisted with the electron and light microscopy. Ms. Suzan Strobel provided the hand drawing of the fungal pseudosclerotia. Dr. B. Sutton, of the CMI in England, confirmed the identity of the fungus. Financial support for this project was provided by the NCI, the Montana Science and Tech Alliance, and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station.
Keywords
- 2-Hydroxy-6-methylbenzoic acid
- Altersolanol
- Antibiotics
- Endophytes
- Mutualism
- Yews