Coordination Properties of the Fungal Metabolite Harzianic Acid Toward Toxic Heavy Metals

oleh: Gaetano De Tommaso, Maria Michela Salvatore, Rosario Nicoletti, Marina DellaGreca, Francesco Vinale, Alessia Staropoli, Francesco Salvatore, Matteo Lorito, Mauro Iuliano, Anna Andolfi

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-01-01

Deskripsi

Some Trichoderma strains are known for their capacity to produce harzianic acid, a metabolite belonging to the tetramic acid derivatives. Harzianic acid has interesting biological properties, such as antimicrobial activities against phytopathogenic fungi and promotion of plant growth. It also possesses remarkable chemical properties, including the chelating properties toward essential transition metals, which might be related to the biological activities. Increasing knowledge on chelating properties might be relevant for understanding the various beneficial effects of harzianic acid in the interaction between the producer fungi and plants. In this work, the coordination capacity of harzianic acid was studied to evaluate the formation and stability of complexes formed with toxic heavy metals (i.e., Cd<sup>2+</sup>, Co<sup>2+</sup>, Ni<sup>2+</sup>, and Pb<sup>2+</sup>), which might have a crucial role in the tolerance of plants growing in metal-contaminated soils and in abiotic stress.