A new marine-derived fungus Tamaricicola fenicei sp. nov. as source of antiviral metabolites

The oceans remain a largely unexplored environment for the discovery of new bioactive molecules. Owing to their remarkable biodiversity and extreme environmental conditions, marine fungi have attracted increasing attention due to their ability to produce secondary metabolites with unique chemical structures and potent biological activities. This poster describes the investigation of a new strain of Tamaricicola fenicei PN38, isolated from the seagrass Posidonia oceanica and the jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca in the central Tyrrhenian Sea. Bio-guided assay analysis revealed that the CHCl3 extract displayed significant antiviral activity against Echovirus E11. Molecular networking analysis combined with comparison against metabolomic databases enabled the annotation of a cluster of diketopiperazines and a singleton identified as a previously undescribed octapeptide characterized by proline redundancy within its sequence, potentially associated with the observed antiviral activity. The remarkable bioactivity of these metabolites highlights their potential as promising candidates for pharmaceutical development, particularly in the search for new antiviral agents. This work was supported by the PRIN project MYCOSEAS (no. 2022MPTT35, 2022), aimed at discovering new bioactive molecules from extremophilic marine fungi active against emerging and multidrug-resistant pathogens. This poster illustrates the integrated workflow, including extraction procedures, molecular networking analysis, and bio-guided assays employed for the chemical and biological investigation of a new lineage within the genus Tamaricicola