METABOLISM OF LINOLEIC-ACID OR MEVALONATE AND 6-PENTYL-ALPHA-PYRONE BIOSYNTHESIS BY TRICHODERMA SPECIES

The understanding of the biosynthetic pathway of 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone in Trichoderma species was achieved by using labelled linoleic acid or mevalonate as a tracer. Incubation of growing cultures of Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride with [U-C-14]linoleic acid or [5-C-14]sodium mevalonate revealed that both fungal strains were able to incorporate these labelled compounds (50 and 15%, respectively). Most intracellular radioactivity was found in the neutral lipid fraction. At the initial time of incubation, the radioactivity from [C-14]linoleic acid was incorporated into 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone more rapidly than that from [C-14]mevalonate. No radioactivity incorporation was detected in 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone when fungal cultures were incubated with [1-C-14] linoleic acid. These results suggested that beta-oxidation of linoleic acid was a probable main step in the biosynthetic pathway of 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone in Trichoderma species.