Wheldone: Characterization of a Unique Scaffold from the Coculture of <i>Aspergillus fischeri</i> and <i>Xylaria flabelliformis</i>

Abstract

Wheldone (<b>1</b>) was isolated and elucidated from a coculture of <i>Aspergillus fischeri</i> (NRRL 181) and <i>Xylaria flabelliformis</i> (G536), where secondary metabolite biosynthesis was stimulated by antagonism between these fungi. First observed via <i>in situ</i> analysis between these competing fungal cultures, the conditions were scaled to reproducibly generate <b>1</b>, whose novel structure was elucidated by one- and two-dimensional NMR and mass spectrometry. Compound <b>1</b> displayed cytotoxic activity against breast, ovarian, and melanoma cancer cell lines.