Dados do Trabalho

Título

Biotransformation of guabiju (Myrcianthes pungens) compounds by the fungus Aspergillus brasiliensis: an untargeted metabolomics approach

Introdução

Biotransformation involves the modification of compounds by microorganisms, as bacteria and fungi, often increasing their bioavailability and modifying their properties. This study aimed to apply a mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics approach to evaluate compound biotransformation in fungal cultivation.

Material e Métodos

Solid state cultivation was carried out in Erlenmeyer flasks containing 10g of lyophilized guabiju and nutrient solutions, sterilized by autoclaving (121°C, 15 min). Each flask was inoculated with three 14 mm disks of Aspergillus brasiliensis previously grown on PDA agar (30°C, 10 days), and incubated at 30°C for five periods: 0, 3, 7, 10 and 15 days. Negative controls without fungal inoculation were maintained under identical conditions. For metabolomics data acquisition, samples were extracted with acidified methanol-water solution, and the extracts were analyzed via UHPLC-QTOF-MS. Filtering of data and statistical analysis were performed using R.

Resultados e Discussão

Initially, features not at least 10 times higher in the quality control samples (QCs) than in the process blank were excluded from analysis. The analysis was then restricted to features that are present in 100% of QCs and those with a coefficient of variation of lower than 30% in the QCs. Following this process, a total of 2688 features were retained in the negative mode. All data was log2 transformed and median-centered prior to analysis. Principal component analysis revealed that the first two principal components (PC) explained 83% of data variance (PC1, 77.1%; PC2, 6.2%). Two clear clusters were captured by PC1: one associated with cultivation exceeding 3 days of cultivation and another grouping controls without fungus inoculation and the control treatment (day 0). On the other hand, PC2 separated two main groups, in positive PC2 composed of treatments with shorter cultivation times (0, 3 and 7 days) and controls without fungi (0 and 3 days), and another composed of long cultivation periods (10 and 15 days) and the remaining controls (7, 10 and 15 days). These preliminary results suggest an influence of fungal cultivation on guabiju metabolites, correlated with cultivation time. Subsequent steps involve identifying the key metabolites that are promoting this differentiation to understand metabolic changes involved in the biotransformation of compounds in fungal cultivation.

Conclusão

These preliminary results suggest an influence of fungal cultivation on guabiju metabolites, correlated with cultivation time. Subsequent steps involve identifying the key metabolites that are promoting this differentiation to understand metabolic changes involved in the biotransformation of compounds in fungal cultivation, paving the way for future applications in the production of specific compounds.