Analysis of Secondary Metabolites Biosynthesized by Pathogenic and Symbiotic Fungi using High-Resolution Tandem LC-MS and Spectral Molecular Networking

Fungi from Canadian crops affect many aspects of agriculture. For example, ginseng root rot caused by Ilyonectria spp. is a major issue for farmers. Ilyonectria spp. make few reported natural products and it is not known if those products are unique to virulent species. PCA and molecular networking were applied to HRMS data to establish a distinct metabolomic profile of root rot pathogens, characterized by antifungal resorcyclic acid lactones (RALs). These likely protect Ilyonectria from other soil pathogens, which gives it the opportunity to infect ginseng root. Molecular networking was also applied to fungal endophytes from fruit crops to identify new compounds. Endophytes are symbionts that produce beneficial compounds, however, traditional screening methods are cumbersome in finding new or novel compounds. HRMS data of 302 fungal endophytes were examined to identify nine new compounds related to known antimicrobial compounds. These compounds are targets for isolating and characterizing in further studies