Coumarin metabolic routes in Aspergillus spp.

AGUIRRE-PRANZONI C; ORDEN AA; BISOGNO FR; ARDANAZ CE; TONN, CE; KURINA SANZ MB

Mycological Research

ELSEVIER

Año: 2011 vol. 115 p. 245 - 252

1878-6146

Coumarin metabolism by several Aspergillus strains was studied. A. ochraceus and A. niger carried out the reduction of the C3-C4 double bond to yield dihydrocoumarin in 24h. Meanwhile, the first strain did not transform dihydrocoumarin after 7 days, A. niger demonstrated to have two divergent catabolic pathways: a) the lactone moiety opening and further reduction of the carboxylic acid furnishing the primary alcohol 2-(3-hydroxypropyl)phenol and, b) the hydroxylation of the aromatic ring of dihydrocoumarin at a specific position to give gama-hydroxy-3,4-dihydrochromen-2-one. A. flavus did not perform double bond reductions, and only produced oxygenated metabolites, mainly 5-hydroxycoumarin. Enzyme specific inhibitors and a coumarin analogous were useful to confirm the A. niger catabolic route.