Antifungal and antibacterial metabolites from a sclerotium-colonizing isolate of Mortierella vinacea.

The known compound methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,5,6-trimethylbenzoate (1) and three new related metabolites, which we have named mortivinacins A (2), B (3), and C (4), were identified as metabolites of the fungus Mortierella vinacea. Nicotinic acid (5) was also encountered. This isolate of M. vinacea was obtained from an Aspergillus flavus sclerotium during field studies of sclerotium longevity in soil. Compounds 1-5 were isolated by chromatographic fractionation of organic extracts from M. vinacea solid-substrate fermentation cultures, and the structures were assigned by analysis of NMR and MS data. Compounds 1, 2, and 5 were responsible for the antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extract.