Complementation cloning of salt tolerance determinants from the marine hyphomycete Dendryphiella salina in Aspergillus nidulans

Molecular and ultrastructural characterization of two ascomycetes found on sunken wood off Vanuatu islands in the deep Pacific ocean

A new genus of a deep-sea ascomycete with one new species, Alisea longicolla, is described based on analyses of 18S and 28S rDNA sequences and morphological characters. A. longicolla was found together with Oceanitis scuticella, on small twigs and sugar cane debris trawled from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off Vanuatu Islands. Molecular and morphological characters indicate that both fungi are members of Halosphaeriaceae. Within this family, O. scuticella is phylogenetically related to Ascosalsum and shares similar ascospore morphology and appendage ontogeny. The genus Ascosalsum is considered congeneric with Oceanitis and Ascosalsum cincinnatulum, Ascosalsum unicaudatum and Ascosalsum viscidulum are transferred to Oceanitis, an earlier generic name.

Trichodermamides A and B, cytotoxic modified dipeptides from the marine-derived fungus Trichoderma virens

Trichodermamides A (1) and B (2), two modified dipeptides, have been isolated from cultures of the marine-derived fungus Trichoderma virens. The trichodermamides possess a rare cyclic O-alkyl-oxime functionality incorporated into a six-membered ring. The structure of trichodermamide B was established by X-ray diffraction analysis, while the structure assignment of trichodermamide A, and determination of the absolute stereochemistry, was accomplished by spectral and chemical methods. Trichodermamide B displayed significant in vitro cytotoxicity against HCT-116 human colon carcinoma with an IC(50) of 0.32 microg/mL.