A new monosesquiterpene diacetylgliocladic acid (1), a new dimeric sesquiterpene divirensol H (9), and two exceptionally novel trimeric sesquiterpene trivirensols A and B (11 and 12), together with another eight known congeners, were purified from an endophytic fungus Trichoderma virens FY06, derived from Litchi chinensis Sonn. whose fruit is a delicious and popular food. All of them were identified by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, combined with biosynthetic considerations. Trivirensols A and B are unprecedented trimers of which three subunits are connected by two ester bonds of the sesquiterpene class. Relative to the positive control triadimefon, all the tested metabolites showed strong inhibitory activities against at least one phytopathogenic fungus among Penicillium italicum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium graminearum, Colletotrichum musae, and Colletotrictum gloeosporioides. Notably, as metabolites of the endophytic fungus from L. chinensis, they all presented strong antifungal activities against C. gloeosporioides which causes anthracnose in L. chinensis.
Keywords: Litchi chinensis; Trichoderma virens; antifungal activity; plant-derived fungi; trimeric sesquiterpene.