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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Extraction and Analysis of Microbial Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Soils
Published on: August 26, 2016
Phomenins and fatty acids from Alternaria infectoria
Lada Ivanova1, Dirk Petersen, Silvio Uhlig
1National Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway.
Abstract:
Taxa of the Alternaria infectoria species group are the predominant Alternaria spp. found in cereals in Northern Europe. While several pyrones have been isolated from A. infectoria and described as taxonomical markers for species identification, information about the bioactivity of metabolites from the fungus is missing. Bioassay-guided fractionation of rice culture extracts from several strains of A. infectoria linked the observed toxicity of the extracts in MRC-5 cells to free fatty acids, i.e. linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. The fungus also produced a cytotoxic pyrone, which upon isolation and NMR spectroscopic analysis was identified as a mixture of phomenins A and B (approximately 10:1), which have not previously been isolated from an Alternaria species.
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