Antifungal activity of Anacardiaceae species native from northwestern Argentina

ARISTIMUÑO, M. E.; VATTUONE, M.A.; CATALÁN, C.A.N.; SAMPIETRO, D.A.

Tucumán

Congreso; VII Congreso Argentino de Microbiología General; 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Microbiología General

Anacardiaceae family has an important participat ion in the dendrologic flora of northwestern Argentina and are mostly represented by species of the genus Schinopsis and Schinus.Some of them causeseverecontact dermatitis, which is mainly attributed to the content of phenolics compounds, biflavonoids and phenolic lipids (alkylcatechols and resorcinols). Thesesubstancesare defense metabolites against plant pests and diseases. and become Anacardiaceae species as sourcesof antimicrobial compounds. In this work, we check the antifungal activity and phenolic contents of leaf extracts of five Anacardiaceae species native from northwestern Argentina. Leaves of Schinus gracilipes, Schinus fasciculatus, Schinusmolle, Schinopsis haenkeana and Schinopsis lorentzii were sequentially extracted with dichlorornethane. Ethyl acetate and methanol. The organic extracts were evaporated to dryness. solubilized in methanol and filtrated . Percentage of participation of total phenolic compounds. flavonoids and phenol ic lipids were estimated in the dry residue of the filtrates by microcolorimetric methods based on Folin Ciocalteu reagent. aluminum chloride and Fast Blue B salt. respectively. Minimum ant ifungal dose (MA D) was determ ined by the disk diffusion method (10-2000 µg dry extracted material/disk) on the cereal pathogens. Dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts of S. lorentzii and S. haenkeana, and the methanolic extract of S. gracilipes had a MAD of 125 µg (dry material/disk) on F. graminearum. Dichloromethane and methanol extracts of S. fasciculatus had no an inhibitory effect on this fungal species and the remaining organic extracts had MADs at 500-1000 µg. Dichloromethane extracts of S. lorentzii, S. haenkeana, and S. melle, and ethyl acetate extracts of S. molle and S. haenkeana had MADs of 500-1000 µg on F. verticillioides whi le the remaining extracts had no a fungitoxic effect on this fungus. Quantitative participation of phenolic compounds, flavonoidsand phenolic lipids in the extracted dry materials were not directly associated to the antifungal effects, suggesting that qualitative differences among extracts determine the observed biological activity. Our results indicate that F. graminearum was more susceptible than F. verticillioides to the leaf extracts suggesting that Anacardiaceae species has a selective antifungal effect on the Fusarium species assayed.