ENDOPHYTES & ALKALOIDS--CHEMISTRY/GENTICS/BIOLOGIC ACTIV

描述（改编自应用）：真菌毒素是真菌继发性 对动物和人类有毒的代谢物。生活在植物体内的真菌 组织（内生菌）产生一些最有毒和最有趣的真菌毒素。 该项目将研究一组未开发的草内生菌， 羽扇豆及其毒素的生物活性和药用潜力 的毒素。 许多禾本科植物含有内生真菌（棒孢菌科）。真菌 产生对人类非常重要的生物碱：它们保护植物宿主免受 草食动物，他们造成巨大的损失，畜牧业，他们是 有用的药物。它们也是研究人际关系的有趣模型 致病性和互利共生的关系虽然草内生菌已经被 在温带地区进行了广泛的研究，几乎对它们一无所知， 新热带地区来自同一地区的羽扇豆将被测试是否存在 内生真菌拟茎点霉和根视蛋白。视茎点菌素是一种微管蛋白结合真菌毒素 导致动物疾病，也可能导致人类疾病热带研究 草的内生菌应该提供新的生物化学和生物化学的生物碱， 药理学的兴趣，对动物健康问题的新见解，和一个新的 背景下，以测试的想法，主机-病原体的关系，在温带发展 系统. 本课题包括四个相互关联的部分：1）分离禾本科植物内生菌， 新热带区，它也将为其他部分提供材料; 2）DNA 一些内生菌的指纹图谱和测序研究，以验证假设 关于进化和杂交的群体，并决定哪些真菌是 最有可能产生新的生物碱; 3）生物碱的鉴定， 视根素;和4）生物活性和药学潜力的研究 在化合物中，基于昆虫饲养生物测定， 雌激素性，以及孢子萌发生物测定以测试对 分裂。

Description (Adapted from Application): Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites that are toxic to animals and humans. Fungi that live inside plant tissues (endophytes) produce some of the most toxic and interesting mycotoxins. This project will study an unexplored group of endophytes of grasses and lupins, their toxins, and the biological activity and pharmaceutical potential of the toxins. Many grasses contain endophytic fungi (family Clavicipitaceae). The fungi produce alkaloids of great importance to man: they protect the plant host from herbivory, they cause enormous losses to the livestock industry, and they are useful as drugs. They are also interesting models to study relationships between pathogenicity and mutualism. Although grass endophytes have been studied extensively in temperate areas, almost nothing is known about them in the Neotropics. Lupins from the same areas will be tested for presence of the endophyte Phomopsis and phomopsins. Phomopsins are tubulin-binding mycotoxins that cause diseases in animals, and, possibly in humans. Study of tropical endophytes of grasses should provide new alkaloids of biochemical and pharmacological interest, new insights into animal health problems, and a new context to test ideas of host-pathogen relationships developed in temperate systems. This project has four interrelated parts: 1) isolation of grass endophytes in the Neotropics, which will also provide materials for the other parts; 2) DNA fingerprinting and sequencing study of some endophytes, to test hypotheses about evolution and hybridization of the group and to decide which fungi are most likely to produce novel alkaloids; 3) identification of alkaloids and phomopsins; and 4) studies of biological activity and pharmaceutical potential of the compounds, based on insect feeding bioassays, an in vitro bioassay for estrogenicity, and a spore germination bioassay to test for inhibition of mitosis.