Secondary Metabolite Produced by Diaporthe terebinthifolli LGMF658 – Bioactivity and Chemical Structure Relationship

Background: Motivated by the need for bioprospecting new drug studies have revealed a variety of secondary metabolites with biological activity. In particular, antimicrobial research confronts the growing reality of resistance of microorganisms to currently available drugs. Modifications in the chemical structure of secondary metabolites may be important in the development of a product to improve the efficacy of these compounds. Being cognizant of the fact that modifications in the chemical structure could enhance the biological activity and improve the compound characteristics for the development of a product, the present study aimed to verify, if there is the possibility of a significant difference in the bioactivity of verbanol in relation to verbenol. Methods: The biological activity was evaluated by agar diffusion assay and microdilution. Results: Verbanol is a bioactive secondary metabolite produced by the endophytic fungus Diaporthe terebinthifolli LGMF658. This compound has bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus and fungicide against Candida albicans according to the microdilution assay. Discussion: In contrast, verbenol, a byproduct of verbanol, did not control the development of the bacterium and showed fungistatic activity against yeast. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the presence of the double bond, which increased the polarity of the compound, reduced its bioactivity, corroborating with other studies that report the importance of lipophilicity for antimicrobial action.