Penialidins A–C with strong antibacterial activities from Penicillium sp., an endophytic fungus harboring leaves of Garcinia nobilis

Three new polyketides named penialidins A–C (1–3), along with one known compound, citromycetin (4), were isolated from an endophytic fungus, Penicillium sp., harbored in the leaves of the Cameroonian medicinal plant Garcinia nobilis. Their structures were elucidated by means of spectroscopic and spectrometric methods (NMR and HRMSn). The antibacterial efficacies of the new compounds (1–3) were tested against the clinically-important risk group 2 (RG2) bacterial strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The ecologically imposing strains of E. coli (RG1), Bacillus subtilis and Acinetobacter sp. BD4 were also included in the assay. Compound 3 exhibited pronounced activity against the clinically-relevant S. aureus as well as against B. subtilis comparable to that of the reference standard (streptomycin). Compound 2 was also highly-active against S. aureus. By comparing the structures of the three new compounds (1–3), it was revealed that altering the substitutions at C-10 and C-2 can significantly increase the antibacterial activity of 1.

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