Quorum Sensing and Mobility Inhibition of Pathogenic Bacteria by Fulvifomes mexicanus sp. nov

TL;DR

A new fungus, Fulvifomes mexicanus, is found to inhibit the virulence of pathogenic bacteria, offering potential for new antimicrobial treatments.

Contribution

The discovery of Fulvifomes mexicanus sp. nov. and its antipathogenic metabolites as a novel source for antimicrobial development.

Findings

The methanolic extract of Fulvifomes mexicanus inhibits motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and violacein production in Chromobacterium violaceum.

Metabolomic analysis identified diverse bioactive compounds, including hispidin derivatives and γ-butyrolactones.

This is the first chemical and biological study of Fulvifomes mexicanus, highlighting its potential for antimicrobial applications.

Abstract

The development of antimicrobial resistance drives the search for molecules capable of inhibiting bacterial virulence. Fungi of the Basidiomycota phylum constitute an important source of compounds with antimicrobial activity. The present paper describes a new species named Fulvifomes mexicanus sp. nov. based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses. The methanolic extract of basidiome of this fungus inhibited the motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 and the production of violacein by Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. The metabolomic study of the extract by liquid chromatography–high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-HRESIMS) and molecular networking analyses revealed the presence of a complex composition of metabolites including hispidin derivatives, terpenoids, phenols, furanones, alkylglycerols, pyrones, and γ-butyrolactones, among others. Overall, this work represents the first chemical and biological study of a new species of Fulvifomes mexicanus as a source of antipathogenic metabolites for the development of novel antimicrobial agents.

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