Antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines of the extracts from novel Xylaria species associated with termite nests and LC-MS analysis

Xylaria species associated with termite nests or soil have been considered rare species in nature and the few which have been reported as a rich source of bioactive metabolites. This study evaluated ten ethyl acetate extracts of five new Xylaria species associated with termite nests or soil for their antioxidant activity, and cytotoxicity against different cancer and normal cell lines. DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of the extracts demonstrated strong capacity with low IC50 values. The highest observed activities belonged to X. vinacea SWUF18-2.3 having IC50 values of 0.194 ± 0.031 mg/mL for DPPH assay and 0.020 ± 0.004 mg/mL for ABTS assay. Total phenolic content ranged from 0.826 ± 0.123 to 3.629 ± 0.381 g GAE/g crude extract which correlated with antioxidant activities. The high total phenolic content could contribute to the high antioxidant activities. Cytotoxicity was recorded against A549, HepG2, Hela and PNT2 and resulted in broad spectrum to specific activity depending on the cell lines. The highest activities were observed with X. subintraflava SWUF16-11.1 which resulted in 11.15 ± 0.32 to 13.17 ± 2.37 % cell viability at a con- centration of 100 µg/mL. Moreover, LC-MS fingerprints indicated over 61 peaks from all isolates. There were 18 identified and 43 unidentified compounds compared to mass databases. The identi- fied compounds were from various groups of diterpenoid, diterpene, cytochalasin, flavones, fla- vonoids, polyphenol, steroid and derivatives, triterpenoids and tropones. These results indicated that Xylaria spp. had abundant secondary metabolites that could be further explored for their therapeutic properties

A new species and new records of Hypoxylon from Acheron Gap, Victoria, Australia

Hypoxylon fuhreri sp. nov., is described based on a collection from wood, made in a cool-temperate rainforest, at Acheron Gap, Victoria, Australia. Comparison is made between the new species and other morphologically similar species of Hypoxylon. The new species is illustrated with light micrographs. Hypoxylon aucklandiae, H. chathamense and H. nothofagi, which have previously only been recorded from New Zealand, are new records for Australia.link_to_OA_fulltex

Twelve New Taxa of Xylaria Associated with Termite Nests and Soil from Northeast Thailand

The diversity of Xylaria species associated with termite nests in northeast Thailand was investigated. Among the 14 taxa included in this study, 11 species and one variety were described as new, and another two species resemble the existing taxa, X. escharoidea and X. nigripes. The newly described taxa are X. chaiyaphumensis, X. conica, X. fulvescens, X. ischnostroma, X. margaretae, X. minima, X. reinkingii var. microspora, X. siamensis, X. sihanonthii, X. subintraflava, X. thienhirunae, and X. vinacea. Their morphological and cultural characteristics are described and illustrated, and their ITS, α-actin and β-tubulin sequences were analysed. A dichotomous key to the 17 species of Xylaria occurring in Thailand is provided