Structures and Bioactive Properties of Myrtucommulones and Related Acylphloroglucinols from Myrtaceae

Abstract

Myrtaceae are a group of plants that include a number of renowned species used in ethnomedicine in many areas worldwide. Their valuable therapeutic properties have stimulated a fruitful research activity addressed to the identification of the bioactive components of their extracts yielding a great diversity of terpenes; polyphenols; and other exclusive products. Among the latter, starting with the discovery of myrtucommulone A from myrtle (Myrtus communis), a series of structurally-related acylphloroglucinol compounds have been characterized from several species that represent the basic active principles to be considered in view of possible drug development. Aspects concerning chemical and biological properties of these products are reviewed in the present paper.

Secondary Metabolites Produced by Neofusicoccum Species Associated with Plants: A Review

“…Interestingly, (3R)-5-hydroxymellein (28), isolated from N. parvum, has an effect in the suppression of the oxidation of LDL and HDL through the inhibition of lipid peroxidation, the decrease in negative charges, the reduction in hyperchromicity and carbonyl contents, and the prevention of apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) aggregation and apoB-100 fragmentation. Furthermore, 28 significantly reduced foam cell formation induced by oxidized LDL (oxLDL).…”

“…Myrtucommulone A (32) is the founding product of the group of structurally related compounds named myrtucommulones whose structures are characterized by a phloroglucinol nucleus coupled with syncarpic acid residues ( Figure 5) [28]. Myrtucommulones and related acylphloroglucinols are frequently reported as products of plant species belonging to the family Myrtaceae (e.g., Eucalyptus globulus [43], Kunzea ericoides [44], Myrtus communis [45][46][47], Melaleuca citrina [48], Rhodomyrtus tomentosa [49][50][51]) spread in the Australasian region and these compounds are well-known for their antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities [28]. Some endophytic fungi from the genus Neofusicoccum are able to produce myrtucommulones.…”

“…This finding represents a new frontier in the study of myrtucommulones because the availability of strains to be cultured in vitro may provide access to increased amounts of these products for further investigations. To date, myrtucommulones A, B and D (32)(33)(34) were identified in cultures of endophytic strains of N. australe of myrtle (Myrtus communis) [27,28]. Antiproliferative activity effects on the human prostatic cancer cell lines DU145 and PC3 were observed for a mixture of 32 and 34 [27].…”

The need for a coordinated action to elucidate ecological occurrence and functions of endophytic fungal communities

“…Besides adding previously unknown metabolites with interesting properties, research in the field makes it more and more evident that many bioactive products originally extracted from plants are commonly produced by some of their associated endophytes. Such an ability is often shared by several taxonomically unrelated strains (Nicoletti et al, 2018), which in turn can establish synergistic interactions resulting in enhanced production (Bhumika et al, 2016). Indeed, this is quite a hot research subject for medicinal plants in particular, as outlined in several recent reviews (Ludwig-Müller, 2015;Jia et al, 2016;Caruso et al, 2020;Zimowska et al, 2020a).…”

Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton.): A review of phytochemistry, pharmacology and industrial applications research progress

“…As the common secondary metabolites produced by the Myrtaceae (Nicoletti et al, 2018), meroterpenoids have been widely investigated with panorama enlarging, leading to proposing the use of some Myrtaceae plants in soil sanitization as the antibiotic agents (Prosser et al, 2016).…”