1. Introduction
Significant mutualistic relationships have been established between endophytic fungi and their host plants, attracting considerable attention due to their ecological and biotechnological potential [
1]. Endophytic fungi can produce a variety of secondary metabolites on their own and can be involved in the biosynthesis and biotransformation of secondary metabolites in host plants, making them an important source of active natural products. Active natural products derived from endophytic fungi hold vast potential applications in biopharmaceuticals, agricultural production, and industrial fermentation [
2,
3,
4,
5]. Currently, the secondary metabolites isolated from endophytic fungi fermentation products include alkaloids, polyketides, terpenes, etc [
2,
6], and some even possess activity in promoting seed germination [
7].
Quinazolinones have great development prospects in medicinal chemistry [
8], originating from a wide range of antibacterial [
9], anti-inflammatory [
10,
11], antiviral [
12,
13], and antituberculosis [
14] properties. So far, only a limited number of quinazolinones have been reported from endophytic fungi, including neosartoryadins and glyantrypines, antiviral agents from mangrove-derived fungi
Neosartorya udagawae and
Cladosporium sp., respectively [
15,
16]; chaetominine, a cytotoxic agent from an endophytic fungus
Chaetomium sp. [
17]; aniquinazolines A–D, antibacterial and cytotoxic molecules from a mangrove-derived fungus
Aspergillus nidulans [
18]; and (–)-(1
R,4
R)-1,4-(2,3)-Indolmethane-1-methyl-2,4-dihydro-1
H-pyrazino-[2,1-
b]-quinazoline-3,6-dione, an antifungal agent from an endophytic fungus
Penicillium vinaceum [
19]. This denotes that endophytic fungi still represent an underexploited reservoir of novel bioactive quinazoline molecules.
Herein, as a part of our ongoing studies on the bioactive secondary metabolites from
Rhodiola tibetica endophytic fungi [
20,
21,
22], we performed a Global Natural Products Social (GNPS) molecular networking analysis of the EtOAc extract of endophytic fungus
Penicillium sp. HJT-A-6. GNPS molecular networking has been widely applied in the analysis of natural products to cluster compounds with similar MS/MS spectra, expediting the dereplication process of known natural products [
23,
24,
25]. GNPS molecular networking analysis of the EtOAc extract led to the discovery of a new quinazolinone alkaloid, peniquinazolinone A (
1), together with eleven known secondary metabolites. Seed-germination-promoting activities of the isolated compounds were also evaluated.
Figure 1.
Chemical structures of compounds 1–12.
Figure 1.
Chemical structures of compounds 1–12.
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. General Experimental Procedures
The UV spectrum was recorded on a Jasco V-560 spectrophotometer (JASCO Corporation, Japan). Optical rotation was obtained on an Autopol IV Polarimeter (Rudolph Research Analytical, Flanders, NJ, USA). CD spectrum was acquired on a Jasco J-810-150S spectropolarimeter (JASCO Corporation, Japan). High-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESIMS) data was collected on an AB Sciex Triple TOF 4600 mass spectrometer (AB SCIEX, Framingham, MA, USA). NMR spectra were carried out on a Bruker Avance II 500 MHz NMR spectrometer (Bruker, Karlsruhe, Germany) with tetramethylsilane (TMS) as an internal standard. Agilent 1260 Infinity (Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA), Waters 2535 (Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA), and Shimadzu LC-20AR (Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) semi-preparative HPLC systems were performed using a Welch Ultimate XB-C18 column, (250 mm × 10.0 mm, 5 μm). Silica gel (100−200 mesh & 200−300 mesh, Qingdao Marine Chemical Ltd., Qingdao, China) and Sephadex LH-20 (GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences AB, Uppsala, Sweden) were used for column chromatography. The silica gel GF254 (Qingdao Marine Chemical Co., Ltd., Qingdao, China) was used for analytical and preparative thin-layer chromatography (TLC).
3.2. Fungal Material
The fungus strain Penicillium sp. HJT-A-6 was obtained from the stem of Rhodiola tibetica collected in Langkazi County, Shannan City, Tibet, China, in July 2021. It was identified based on its morphological characteristics and its sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) analysis of rDNA, and the BLAST search result showed that the sequence was the most similar (99%) to the sequence of Penicillium sp. (compared to MN634462.1), The sequence data of the fungus was submitted to GenBank database, accession number: OR346333.1. The fungus was deposited in the College of Life and Health, Dalian University, Dalian, China.
3.3. Fermentation and Isolation
The fungal strain was cultured on autoclaved rice medium (one hundred 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks, each containing 80 g rice, 110 mL water) in the stationary phase at 28 oC for 40 days. After 40 days, the fermentation was cut into small pieces, and extracted with 95% EtOH three times. The extract was concentrated under reduced pressure to afford an aqueous solution and then partitioned with petroleum ether, EtOAc, and n-BuOH to obtain the EtOAc-soluble extract (64 g). The extract was subjected to silica gel column chromatography with CH2Cl2/MeOH (100:0–0:100) to afford fourteen fractions (Fr. A–N).
Fr. B (10.5 g) was chromatographed on a silica gel column with gradient elution (PE/EtOAc, 5:1–1:2) to yield 8 subfractions (Fr. B1–Fr. B8). Fr. B5 was further purified by semi-preparative HPLC with MeOH/H2O (40:60, 0–35 min, 3 mL/min) to obtain compound 11 (1.6 mg, tR = 29 min).
Fr. C (6.3 g) was eluted with gradient petroleum (PE/EtOAc, 5:1–1:1) to afford 9 subfractions (Fr. C1–Fr. C9). Fr. C1 and Fr. C4 were subjected to Sephadex LH-20 gel column and preparative TLC, respectively, to obtain compounds 3 (250 mg) and 12 (4.6 mg). Fr. C5 was chromatographed by Sephadex LH-20 gel column using isocratic elution with CH2Cl2/MeOH (1:1), yielding Fr. C5b, which was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with CH3CN /H2O (30:70, 0–30 min, 3 mL/min) to give compound 6 (13.6 mg, tR = 22 min). Fr. C7 was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with MeOH/H2O (60:40, 0–40 min, 3 mL/min) to obtain compound 7 (193 mg, tR = 14 min) and the mixture of 5a and 5b in a 1:1.7 molar ratio (13.8 mg, tR = 17 min). Fr. C8 was applied to Sephadex LH-20 gel column with CH2Cl2/MeOH (1:1) to give Fr. C8e, which was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with gradient MeOH/H2O (20:80–60:40, 0–30 min, 3 mL/min) to obtain compound 9 (20 mg, tR = 25 min).
Fr. E (6.3 g) was chromatographed on a silica gel column with gradient elution (PE/EtOAc, 7:1–1:2), affording 20 fractions (Fr. E1–Fr. E20). Fr. E13 was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with gradient MeOH/H2O (20:80–95:5, 0–40 min, 3 mL/min) to yield compound 1 (1.6 mg, tR = 26 min). Fr. E14 was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with MeOH/H2O (40:60, 0–40 min, 3 mL/min) to obtain compound 2 (3.4 mg, tR = 16 min) and compound 4 (120 mg, tR = 32 min). Fr. E16 was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with CH3CN/H2O (45:55, 0–25 min, 3 mL/min) to afford compound 8 (6 mg, tR = 12 min).
Fr. G (6.7g) was chromatographed on a silica gel column with gradient elution (PE/EtOAc, 10:1–1:1) to afford 5 subfractions (Fr. G1–Fr. G5). Fr. G4 was applied to Sephadex LH-20 gel column with CH2Cl2/MeOH (1:1) to yield Fr. G4d, which was purified by semi-preparative HPLC with gradient MeOH/H2O (20:80–95:5, 0–30 min, 3 mL/min) to obtain compound 10 (5.8 mg, tR = 10 min).
Peniquinazolinone A (
1): yellow oil;
+20 (
c 0.2, MeOH); UV (CH
3OH)
λmax (log
ε) 223 (4.24), 267 (3.74) nm ; ECD (CH
3OH)
λmax (Δ
ε) 220 (–7.0) nm;
1H NMR (DMSO-
d6, 500 MHz) and
13C NMR (DMSO-
d6, 125 MHz) data (see
Table 1); HRESIMS
m/z 269.1271 [M + Na]
+ (calculated for C
14H
18N
2O
2Na, 269.1266).
3.4. Mosher Esterification of Compound 1
Compound 1 (0.5 mg) was dissolved in 100 μL CDCl3 in an NMR tube, sequentially added 9 μL pyridine and 15 μL (R)-(–)-α-methoxy-α-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetyl chloride ((R)-(–)-MTPA-Cl). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 h to afford the corresponding (S)-Mosher ester (1a), and subsequently diluted with 300 μL CDCl3 to acquire 1H NMR spectrum. The (R)-Mosher ester (1b) of 1 was prepared from (S)-(+)-MTPA-Cl using the same method.
3.5. Seed-Germination-Promoting Assay
Compounds 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12 were dissolved in 0.2% DMSO aqueous solution to yield the stock solution with a concentration of 0.06 mg/mL. 5 µL, 50 µL, and 500 µL of compounds 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12 were added to the 30 mm filter paper placed in the 6-well plate. After evaporation of the solvent, the filter paper was immersed in 300 µL of distilled water, and then 20 seeds of Rhodiola tibetica were displayed in each 30 mm filter paper and incubated at a light-dark regime of 16:8 h condition, 20 °C for 7 days. The germination rate of the seeds was calculated after incubation. The experimental data were collected from three independent experiments. Further experiments on the relationship between the number of germinated seeds and germination time for compounds 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12 were also conducted, the germination period was set up to 11 days.
Supplementary Materials
The following supporting information can be downloaded at the website of this paper posted on Preprints.org, Figure S1: Positive mode HRESIMS spectrum of 1; Figure S2: UV spectrum of 1; Figure S3: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S4: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1a; Figure S5: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1b; Figure S6: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S7: HSQC (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S8: HMBC (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S9: 1H-1H COSY (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S10: NOESY (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 1; Figure S11: CD spectrum of 1; Figure S12: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 2; Figure S13: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 2; Figure S14: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 3; Figure S15: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 3; Figure S16: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 4; Figure S17: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 4; Figure S18: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 5a/5b; Figure S19: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 5a/5b; Figure S20: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 6; Figure S21: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 6; Figure S22: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 7; Figure S23: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 7; Figure S24: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 8; Figure S25: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 8; Figure S26: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 9; Figure S27: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 10; Figure S28: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 10; Figure S29: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 11; Figure S30: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 11; Figure S31: 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) spectrum of 12; Figure S32: 13C NMR (DMSO-d6, 125 MHz) spectrum of 12.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, D.X., X.L. and B.F.; methodology, D.X., Y.W., X.L. and B.F.; validation, D.X., Y.W., X.L. and B.F.; formal analysis, D.X., X.L. and B.F.; investigation, D.X., Y.W., C.G., X.Z., W.F., X.L. and B.F.; resources, X.L. and B.F.; data curation, D.X., X.L. and B.F.; writing—original draft preparation, D.X. and Y.W.; writing—review and editing, D.X. and X.L.; visualization, X.L. and Y.W.; supervision, D.X., X.L. and B.F.; project administration, X.L. and B.F.; funding acquisition, D.X., C.G. and X.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.