Bioactive extracts and chemical constituents of two endophytic strains of Fusarium oxysporum

Ethyl acetate extracts of cultures grown in liquid Czapek and on solid rice media of the fungal endophyte Fusarium oxysporum SS46 isolated from the medicinal plant Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp.) H. Rob., Asteraceae, exhibited considerable cytotoxic activity when tested in vitro against human cancer cells. Chromatographic separation yielded anhydrofusarubin (1) and beauvericin (2) that were identified based on their H-1 and C-13 NMR data. Compounds 1 and 2 showed the strongest cytotoxic activity against different cancer cell lines. Compound 2 also showed promising activity against Leishmania braziliensis. Hexanic extract of F. oxysporum SS50 grown on solid rice media also afforded a mixture of compounds that displayed cytotoxic activity against different cancer cell lines. Chemical analysis of the mixture of compounds, investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), showed that there was a predominance of methyl esters of fatty acids and alkanes.