Phytotoxicity and mammalian cytotoxicity of macrocyclic trichothecene mycotoxins from Myrothecium verrucaria

Abstract

Macrocyclic trichothecene toxins produced by Myrothecium verrucaria (a phytopathogen of interest in biological weed control) and the non-trichothecene toxin atranone B from Stachybotiys atra were tested for phytotoxicity in duckweed (Lemna pausicostata L.) plantlet cultures and kudzu (Pueraria lobata L.) leaf disc assays, and for mammalian cytotoxicity in four cultured cell lines. Roridin E and H, epi-isororidin E, and verrucarin A and J were phytotoxic (half-maximal effect in the concentration range 0.1–9.7 μM on duckweed and 1.5–>80 μM on kudzu) and cytotoxic to mammalian cell lines (half-maximal inhibition of proliferation in the concentration range 1–35 nM). Trichoverrins A and B and atranone B were moderately phytotoxic (half-maximal effect in the concentration range 1 9–69 μM on duckweed and 13–>80 μM on kudzu) and weakly cytotoxic with mammalian cell lines (half-maximal inhibition of proliferation in the concentration range 0.3–>2 μM).