A saponin tolerant and glycoside producer xylariaceous fungus isolated from fruits of Sapindus saponaria

The plant Sapindus saponaria is a good producer of terpenoidal and sesquiterpenoidal saponins, which are accumulated in its fruits. Although saponins usually act as antifungal compounds, a fungus was found living on the internal part of its pericarp. Tentative identification of the fungus, based on micro and macro-morphological aspects inspection, as well as on the secondary metabolite production, suggested the fungus to be a Xylariaceous microorganism. When the fungus is placed in contact with glycosides extracted from the host plant, or exogenous glycosides and other terpenoid compounds, it showed ability to transform them in another compounds. Analysis of these products using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry showed that these biotransformations are mainly monohydroxylation and glycosilation. These findings contrasts most of the reports found in the literature which shows that hydrolysis at sugar chain are frequently observed during glycoside biotransformation by fungi.