Production and purification of a peptide of Fusarium tricinctum that causes conidia of Penicillium to swell.

A process is described for production of a cyclodepsipeptide complex (CDPC) from autoclaved white corn grits fermented with Fusarium tricinctum NRRL 3510. Yields of more than 2.5 g CDPC/kg of medium were obtained. Previously, we described the conspicuous swelling of Penicillium digitatum conidia and hyphal tips incubating in a medium supplemented with the CDPC, a trio of metabolites produced by strains of F. tricinctum and F. roseum. Analysis of the CDPC mass spectra and the amino acid composition indicated one major and two minor cyclodepsipeptides. The two major products differed from the major cyclodepsipeptide only in the substitution of either isoleucine or valine for leucine in the threonyl-alanyl-alanyl-glutaminyl-tyrosyl-leucine peptide portion of the molecule.