Antimicrobial compounds from the endophytic fungus Fusarium sp. Ppf4 isolated from the medicinal plant Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis.

Two sterols and one fatty acid were obtained by bioassay-guided fractionation from the light petroleum extract of the fungus Fusarium sp. Ppf4 isolated from the rhizomes of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis Hand.-Mazz., a medicinal species distributed in the southwest of China. The compounds were elucidated as 5alpha, 8alpha-epidioxyergosta-6, 22-dien-3beta-ol (1), ergosta-8(9), 22-dien-3beta, 5alpha, 6beta, 7alpha-tetraol (2), and butanedioic acid (3), respectively, by means of physical and spectrometric analysis. Both fungal spore germination and micro-dilution-MTT assays were employed to evaluate their antimicrobial activity. Compound 1 was found to be the most bioactive, and compound 3 less active against the test pathogens. This is the first report of the antimicrobial activity of the compounds isolated from the endophytic Fusarium sp. Ppf4 associated with P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis. The results provide promising baseline information for the potential use of the compounds of this endophytic fungus as an antimicrobial agent to control plant and animal diseases.