A carefully timed coculture fermentation of Penicillium
fuscum and P. camembertii/clavigerum yielded eight
new 16-membered-ring macrolides, berkeleylactones A–H (1,
4, 6–9, 12,
13), as well as the known antibiotic macrolide A26771B
(5), patulin, and citrinin. There was no evidence of the
production of the berkeleylactones or A26771B (5) by either fungus
when grown as axenic cultures. The structures were deduced from analyses of
spectral data, and the absolute configurations of compounds 1 and
9 were determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.
Berkeleylactone A (1) exhibited the most potent antimicrobial
activity of the macrolide series, with low micromolar activity (MIC =
1–2 μg/mL) against four MRSA strains, as well
as Bacillus anthracis, Streptococcus pyogenes,
Candida albicans, and Candida glabrata.
Mode of action studies have shown that, unlike other macrolide antibiotics,
berkeleylactone A (1) does not inhibit protein synthesis nor target
the ribosome, which suggests a novel mode of action for its antibiotic
activity.