Original Article Novel Antifouling and Antimicrobial Compound from a Marine-Derived Fungus Ampelomyces sp.

In this study, using a bioassay-guided isolation and purification procedure, we obtained 3-chloro-2,5-dihydroxybenzyl alcohol from a marine-derived Ampelomyces species that effectively inhibited larval settlement of the tubeworm Hydroides ele-gans and of cyprids of the barnacle Balanus amphi-trite. The inhibitive effect on larval settlement was nontoxic and the EC50 of 3-chloro-2,5-dihydroxy-benzyl alcohol ranged from 3.19 2g ml–1 to 3.81 2g ml–1 while the LC50 was 266.68 2g ml –1 for B. amphitrite cyprids; EC50 ranged from 0.67 2g ml –1 to 0.78 2g ml–1, and LC50 was 2.64 2g ml –1 for competent larvae of H. elegans, indicating that inhibitive effect of this compound was nontoxic. At a concentration of 50 2g per disc, this compound showed strong inhibitive effects on the growth of 13 out of 15 marine bacterial species tested in disc diffusion bioassay. Overall, the high inhibitory activities against bacteria and larval settlement as well as the non- or low-toxic nature of this compound to the barnacle and polychaete larvae suggest this compound could be a potent antifou-lant and/or antibiotic