Investigation of the potential of filamentous fungi to biotransform the ent-polyalthic acid

Abstract

This project aims to investigate different cultivation conditions of five filamentous fungi in order to evaluate the influence of the culture medium and the incubation time on the biotransformation reactions of ent-polyalthic acid. It is also intended to select one or two filamentous fungi to biotransform this diterpene. The ent-polyalthic acid is a furan diterpene of labdane skeleton already identified as a constituent of the oleoresins of different Copaifera sp. species, being the major constituent of the Copaifera duckei oleoresin. Oleoresins from Copaifera species are marketed all over Brazil, being considered the raw material of vegetable origin most used in folk medicine in Brazil and are also exported to other countries. Filamentous fungi have been extremely useful in biotransformation processes contributing to the synthesis and obtaining of bioactive molecule derivatives, as well as to metabolism studies constituting an important tool to obtain the metabolites of interest in enough quantities to carry out toxicological and biological assays. In order to reach the proposed objectives, five filamentous fungi will be cultivated under different conditions, extracts will be obtained from the culture broths and mycelia and all the extracts will be submitted to the chromatographic analysis using thin-layer chromatography and also high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to DAD and Corona CAD detectors. (AU)