Antimicrobial properties of sclerotiorin, isocHromophilone VI and pencolide, metabolites from a Brazilian cerrado isolate of Penicillium sclerotiorum van Beyma

As a part of a research program that aims to identify antibacterial and antifungal substances from fungus specimen of Brazilian's cerrado soil samples, Penicillium sclerotiorum was identified as a source of secondary metabolites possessing antibiotic activities. This microorganism was cultured in a liquid medium rich in glucose for fifteen days. The resulting ethyl acetate extract was chemically fractionated leading to the isolation of three metabolites pencolide, sclerotiorin and isochromophilone VI. The antimicrobial disc assay activity of these substances towards Candida albicans, Streptomyces pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli was performed. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the compounds was determined. All compounds showed distinguished antimicrobial activities.