Production and bioactivity of common lichen metabolites as exemplified by Heterodea muelleri (Hampe) Nyl

Based on results of a former study in 2005, this investigation aimed at quantifying UV- and cold temperature stress-induced changes within the secondary metabolite production of the cultured mycobiont of the lichen Heterodea muelleri (Hampe) Nyl. The chemical profiles of the mycobiont cultures and the lichen thallus were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thin layer chromatography (TLC) analyses. The voucher specimen of H. muelleri produced diffractaic acid as a major polyketide and barbatic acid as a satellite compound, whereas the untreated mycobiont did not contain any detectable secondary metabolites. While UV-C stress caused a general increase in substance formation, cold temperature stress resulted in a strong activation of barbatic acid biosynthesis. A further series of experiments focused on the effect of diffractaic and barbatic acids on the growth of the symbiotic photobiont Trebouxia jamesii; usnic acid was similarly tested. Pure substances were obtained from mycobiont cultures by performing preparative TLC. A determined quantity of algae was incubated on BBM plates that contained three different concentrations of the pure lichen metabolites. The growth of the photobionts was monitored over a period of 1 mo to evaluate the impact of each substance on the cultured algae. While diffractaic and usnic acid had no noticeable effect, barbatic acid strongly inhibited algal growth and resulted in cell death.