O
O
O
H 3 C
OH
OH
CH 3
O
CH 3
(7)
O
HO O
HO O
OH
O
(8)
H O
OH
CH 3
H 3 C
O
O
H 3 C O
H 3 C
H 3 C
(9)
OH
CH 3
H 3 C
O
H 3 CO
H 3 C
H 3 C
O
OH
(10)
RO
O
H
H
OH
HO
H
(11)R = H
(12) R = CH 3
Besides the above-mentioned endophytic fungal antibiotic metabolites, there is a
plethora of endophytes, with no certain compound isolated, but have been reported
to show strong antibiotic activity for tested microorganisms. Methanol extract of a
new endophytic fungusColletotrichum gloeosporioidesfrom the medicinal plant
Vitex negundo with antimicrobial activity against methicillin-penicillin-and/or
vancomycin-resistant clinical strains ofS. aureus, is an example for the former
statement (Arivudainambi et al. 2011 ).
Cytonic acid A and B(13, 14)are two novel human cytomegalovirus protease
inhibitors isolated from endophytic fungusCytonaemasp. (Guo et al. 2000 ). The
absence of appropriate antiviral screening systems in most programs is the main
limitation in this type of compound discovery. Cytochalasins are alkaloids, com-
mon in endophyticXylaria,Phoma,and Hypoxylonspp. exhibiting antitumor
activities (Wagenaar et al. 2000 ). Torreyanic acid(15), is a selectively cytotoxic
unusual dimeric quinone isolated fromPestalotiopsis microsporaendophytic to the
endangered treeTorrya taxifolia(Lee et al. 1996 ). Torreyanic acid, in general has
demonstrated 5–10 times more potency to several cancer cell lines that are sensitive
to protein kinase C agonists and caused cell death by apoptosis (Lee et al. 1996 ).
A recent study has reported a new epitetrathiodioxopiperizine, secoemestrin D(16)
from an endophytic fungal strain Emericella sp., occurred in mesophyll of
Astrgalus lentiginosus.Secoemestrin D exhibited significant cytotoxic activity with
IC 50 values ranging from 0.06 to 0.24μM and moderate selectivity to human
glioma and metastatic breast adenocarcinoma cell lines (Xu et al. 2013 ).
198 P.B. Ratnaweera and E.D. de Silva