Pietro Marchese1,2, Laura Garzoli2, Giorgio Gnavi2, Enda O'Connell3, Abderrahman Bouraoui4, Mohamed Mehiri5, Mary Murphy1, Giovanna Cristina Varese2. 1. National University of Ireland Galway, Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, Galway, Ireland. 2. University of Turin, Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Turin, Italy. 3. National University of Ireland Galway, Genomics and Screening Core, Galway, Ireland. 4. Universite de Monastir, Laboratoire de dévelopement chimique, galénique et pharmacologique des médicaments, Monastir, Tunisia. 5. University Nice Sophia Antipolis, Marine Natural Products Team, Institute of Chemistry of Nice, Nice, France.
Abstract
AIMS: Identification of the mycobiota associated to the marine echinoderm Holothuria poli and investigation of cytotoxic and pro-osteogenic potential of isolated strains. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fungal strains were isolated from the animals body-wall, intestine, and faeces. The species identification was based on DNA barcoding and morphophysiological observations. Forty-seven species were identified, all Ascomycota and mainly belonging to Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. Sixteen strains were grown on three media for chemical extraction. Cytotoxic activity was tested on a hepatic cancer cell line (HepG2), the cells viability was evaluated after treatment using a resazurin based assay (AlamarBlue). Pro-osteogenic activity was tested on human Mesenchymal Stem Cell, differentiation was measured as the alkaline phosphatase production through reaction with p-nitrophenylphosphate or as the cells ability to mineralize calcium using a colorimetric kit (StanBio). Cytotoxic activity was recorded for four fungal species while five out of 48 extracts highlighted bioactivity toward human mesenchymal stem cells. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of relevant animal-associated mycobiota was observed in H. poli and selected strains showed cytotoxic potential and pro-osteogenic activity. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY: Our work represents the first report of a Mediterranean sea cucumber mycobiota and highlights the isolates potential to synthetize compounds of pharmaceutical interest for regenerative medicine. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
AIMS: Identification of the mycobiota associated to the marine echinoderm Holothuria poli and investigation of cytotoxic and pro-osteogenic potential of isolated strains. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fungal strains were isolated from the animals body-wall, intestine, and faeces. The species identification was based on DNA barcoding and morphophysiological observations. Forty-seven species were identified, all Ascomycota and mainly belonging to Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. Sixteen strains were grown on three media for chemical extraction. Cytotoxic activity was tested on a hepatic cancer cell line (HepG2), the cells viability was evaluated after treatment using a resazurin based assay (AlamarBlue). Pro-osteogenic activity was tested on human Mesenchymal Stem Cell, differentiation was measured as the alkaline phosphatase production through reaction with p-nitrophenylphosphate or as the cells ability to mineralize calcium using a colorimetric kit (StanBio). Cytotoxic activity was recorded for four fungal species while five out of 48 extracts highlighted bioactivity toward human mesenchymal stem cells. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of relevant animal-associated mycobiota was observed in H. poli and selected strains showed cytotoxic potential and pro-osteogenic activity. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY: Our work represents the first report of a Mediterranean sea cucumber mycobiota and highlights the isolates potential to synthetize compounds of pharmaceutical interest for regenerative medicine. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Authors: E B Gareth Jones; Sundari Ramakrishna; Sabaratnam Vikineswary; Diptosh Das; Ali H Bahkali; Sheng-Yu Guo; Ka-Lai Pang Journal: J Fungi (Basel) Date: 2022-03-11