The chemistry of the blue stain fungi. Part 1. Some metabolites of Ceratocystis species associated with mountain pine beetle infected lodgepole pine

Abstract

Metabolites formed in still culture by Ceratocystis clavigera, C. ips, and C. huntii, three of the four Ceratocystis species associated with the blue stain disease of pine, have been identified. In addition to the ubiquitous fungal metabolites ergosterol, ergosterol peroxide, and fatty acids we have isolated succinic acid, .beta.-phenethyl alcohol (1), tryptophol (2), prolylleucyl anhydride (3), tyrosol (4), 3-phenylpropane-1,2-diol (5), 6,8-dihydroxy-3-methylisocoumarin (8), 6,8-dihydroxy-3-hydroxymethylisocoumarin (9), p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (10), phenylacetic acid (11), p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (12), phenyllactic acid (13), p-hydroxyphenyllactic acid (14), and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (15). The complex formed by chelation of iron with 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid may be responsible, at least in part, for the blue staining of the sapwood of diseased pine.