The antimicrobial potential of algicolous marine fungi for counteracting multidrug-resistant bacteria: phylogenetic diversity and chemical profiling

Marine fungi represent an important but still largely unexplored source of novel and potentially bioactive secondary metabolites. The antimicrobial activity of nine sterile mycelia isolated from the green alga Flabellia petiolata collected from the Mediterranean Sea was tested on four antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains using extracellular and intracellular extracts obtained from each fungal strain. The isolated fungi were identified at the molecular level and assigned to one of the Dothideomycetes, Sordariomycetes or Eurotiomycetes classes. Following assessment of inhibition of bacterial growth (IC50), all crude extracts were subjected to preliminary 1H NMR and TLC analysis. According to preliminary pharmacologic and spectroscopic/chromatographic results, extracts of fungal strains MUT 4865, classified as Beauveria bassiana, and MUT 4861, classified as Microascacea sp.2, were selected for LC–HRMS analysis. Chemical profiling of antibacterial extracts from MUT 4861 and MUT 4865 by LC HRMS allowed identification of the main components of the crude extracts. Several sphingosine bases were identified, including a compound previously unreported from natural sources, which gave a rationale to the broad spectrum of antibacterial activity exhibited.