Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Université Laval Québec, Québec, Canada.
Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 30;14(1):22747. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71344-z.
Papaver genus, commonly known as popies, is a valuable source of alkaloids used in medicine, including papaverine, morphine, codeine, and thebaine. We isolated six endophytic fungal isolates producing morphinan alkaloids from four Papaver species growing in Kurdistan Province, Iran. To do this, a 1:1 mixture of methanol and chloroform was used to extract fungal cultures. The contents of morphinan alkaloids in the extracts were subsequently determined using phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Among the morphinan alkaloid-producing fungal isolates, IRAN 4653C had the highest yield giving 23.06 (mg/g) morphine and 2.03 (mg/g) codeine when grown in potato dextrose liquid medium. The identity of this isolate was examined and recognized as a new fungal species named as Pithoascus kurdistanesis sp. nov. based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of ITS, TEF-1α, and TUB2 sequences data and morphological features. The morphinan-producing endophytic fungus and the isolated Pithoascus species from Papaver are being reported for the first time. Accordingly, this fungus shows promise as a new source of valuable compounds which is illustrated and introduced here as a new Microascaceae member belonging to Pithoascus from Kurdistan Province, Iran. Moreover, the morphinan productivity of P. kurdistanesis was further validated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
罂粟属（Papaver genus），俗称罂粟，是医学用生物碱的重要来源，包括罂粟碱、吗啡、可待因和蒂巴因。我们从伊朗库尔德斯坦省生长的四种罂粟中分离出六种产生吗啡类生物碱的内生真菌。为此，采用甲醇和氯仿 1:1 的混合物提取真菌培养物。随后使用相高效液相色谱法测定提取物中吗啡类生物碱的含量。在产生吗啡类生物碱的内生真菌分离物中，IRAN 4653C 在马铃薯葡萄糖液体培养基中生长时的产量最高，产生 23.06（mg/g）吗啡和 2.03（mg/g）可待因。对该分离物的身份进行了检查，并根据 ITS、TEF-1α 和 TUB2 序列数据和形态特征的多基因系统发育分析，将其鉴定为一种新的真菌物种，命名为 Pithoascus kurdistanesis sp. nov.。从罂粟中分离出产生吗啡的内生真菌和分离出的 Pithoascus 物种是首次报道。因此，这种真菌有望成为有价值化合物的新来源，本文对其进行了介绍并将其作为来自伊朗库尔德斯坦省的新的 Microascaceae 成员 Pithoascus 的成员进行了介绍。此外，还通过气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）进一步验证了 P. kurdistanesis 的吗啡类生物碱生产力。
