Acanthamoebicidal activity of Fusarium sp. Tlau3, an endophytic fungus from Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl.

A fungal endophyte identified as Fusarium sp. Tlau3 was isolated from fresh twig of Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl., a Thai medicinal plant collected from the forest of Chiang Mai Province, Northern Thailand. The fungus was grown on a medium containing yeast extracts and sucrose. The fungal metabolites were isolated from the culture broth by dichloromethane extraction, isooctane/methanol then n-butanol/water partitions, and fractionation with Sephadex LH 20 column chromatography. Acanthamoebicidal fractions were found to induce the formation of large contractile vacuole (LCV) in trophozoites of an Acanthamoeba clinical isolate, leading to cell lysis under isotonic and hypotonic conditions within 1 h. In hypertonic condition, LCV formation was also induced but without cell lysis. Acridine orange staining of the treated cells revealed increased intracellular acidity, implying an increased proton pumping or a vacuolar proton-ATPase (V-ATPase) stimulation. Scanning electron microscopy showed cell membrane damage with intact cytoplasmic organelles. Our finding has indicated that contractile vacuoles of Acanthamoeba trophozoites are the primary target of the amoebicidal substance(s) from this endophytic fungus.