Fatty acids and amino acids of entomopathogenic fungus Conidiobolus coronatus grown on minimal and rich media

Entomopathogenic fungi are referred to as potential candidates as insect pest control agents. The objective of the study was to identify fatty acids and amino acids from Conidiobolus coronatus cultured on two different media. Each medium was extracted with ethyl acetate and its mixtures with isopropanol, acetonitrile and methanol. Analyses of fatty acids and amino acids of entomopathogenic fungus C. coronatus were performed by means of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The analysis showed that the fungus C. coronatus produces the following groups of compounds: fatty acids and amino acids; alpha- and beta-glucopyranose were also identified. The identified fatty acids included 12-20, 22 and 24 carbon atoms per chain. The highest content of fatty acids was detected in a mycelium sample cultured in a liquid minimal medium extracted with ethyl acetate. The lowest content of these organic compounds was identified in mycelium cultured in a liquid nutrient-rich medium extracted with ethyl acetate-methanol mixture. Fatty acids were found to account for 62.0 mass % to 94.4 mass % of all organic compounds in the analyzed mycelia. C18:1 acids were detected in the highest amounts when ethyl acetate was used as the extracting agent. The identified amino acids accounted for 4 mass % to 21 mass % of all organic compounds. Upon extraction of C. coronatus mycelium samples with the ethyl acetate-methanol mixture, two anomeric forms of glucose were also identified. An analysis of the studied material confirmed, that the entomopathogenic fungus C. coronatus is a very rich source of organic compounds, which might encourage its further research so as to identify an even larger number of compounds being produced by this species. (C) 2016 Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences