Fungi are considered to be one of the wealthiest sources of bio-metabolites that can be employed for yielding novel biomedical agents. Alternaria, including parasitic, saprophytic, and endophytic species, is a kind of dark fungi that can produce a broad array of secondary metabolites (SMs) widely distributed in many ecosystems. These are categorized into polyketides, nitrogen-containing compounds, quinones, terpenes, and others based on the unique structural features of the metabolites. New natural products derived from Alternaria exhibit excellent bioactivities characterized by antibacterial, antitumor, antioxidative, phytotoxic, and enzyme inhibitory properties. Thus, the bio-metabolites of Alternaria species are significantly meaningful for pharmaceutical, industrial, biotechnological, and medicinal applications. To update the catalog of secondary metabolites synthesized by Alternaria fungi, 216 newly described metabolites isolated from Alternaria fungi were summarized with their diverse chemical structures, pharmacological activity, and possible biosynthetic pathway. In addition, possible insights, avenues, and challenges for future research and development of Alternaria are discussed.

The marine is a highly complex ecosystem including various microorganisms. Bacillus species is a predominant microbialflora widely distributed in marine ecosystems. This review aims to provide a systematic summary of the newly reported metabolites produced by marine-derived Bacillus species over recent years covering the literature from 2014 to 2021. It describes the structural diversity and biological activities of the reported compounds. Herein, a total of 87 newly reported metabolites are included in this article, among which 49 compounds originated from marine sediments, indicating that marine sediments are majority sources of productive strains of Bacillus species Therefore, marine-derived Bacillus species are a potentially promising source for the discovery of new metabolites.

Context: The leaves of Pyrola decorate H. Andr (Pyrolaceae), known as Luxiancao, have long been used for treating kidney deficiency, gastric haemorrhage and rheumatic arthritic diseases in traditional Chinese medicine. Objective: The phytochemicals and antioxidant capacities in vitro of P. decorate leaves were investigated. Materials and methods: Ethanol, petroleum ether, acetidin, n-butyl alcohol and aqueous extracts of Pyrola decorate leaves were prepared by solvent sequential process, and then isolated and purified to obtain phytochemicals. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. PC12 cells were pretreated for 24 h with different extractions of P. decorate leaves at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mg/mL, then H₂O₂ of 0.4 mM was added in all samples for an additional 2 h. The antioxidant capacities of betulin, ursolic acid and monotropein were determined in PC12 cells against H₂O₂ induced cytotoxicity in vitro as well. Results: Nine compounds (1–9) were isolated and structurally determined by spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR analyses. Ethanol extract treated groups showed inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ value of 10.83 mg/mL. Betulin, ursolic acid and monotropein were isolated from P. decorate, and demonstrated with IC₅₀ values of 6.88, 6.15 and 6.13 μg/mL, respectively. Discussion and conclusions: In conclusion, Pyrola decorate is a potential antioxidative natural plant and worth testing for further pharmacological investigation in the treatment of oxidative stress related neurological disease.

A new macrodiolide, mangrovlide A (1) and two new polycyclic chromones, penixanthones C (2) and D (3), as well as four other known compounds (4–7), have been isolated from the mangrove sediment derived fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO041218, cultured in the 0.25% NaCl rice substrate. The structures of the new compounds were determined by analysis of the NMR and MS spectroscopic data. Compound 1 possesses a 10-membered macrodiolide unit, while 2 and 3 are chromones with an unprecedented 6/6/6/5 polycyclic skeleton. Compounds 1–7 were evaluated for their cytotoxicities, while all the compounds displayed weak or no activity.