@ARTICLE{TreeBASE2Ref22570, author = {Sarah Jane Higginbotham and Weng Ruh Wong and Roger Linington and Carmenza Spadafora and Liliana Iturrado and A Elizabeth Arnold}, title = {Sloth fur as a novel source of fungi with potent anti-parasitic, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial bioactivity}, year = {2013}, keywords = {Mycology; fungal microbiome; sloth microbiome; drug discovery; antibacterial; antiparasitic; Chagas disease; malaria; cancer}, doi = {}, url = {http://}, pmid = {}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {}, number = {}, pages = {}, abstract = {The extraordinary biological diversity of tropical forests harbors a rich chemical diversity with enormous potential as a source of novel bioactive compounds. Of particular interest are new environments for microbial discovery. Sloths -- mid-sized arboreal mammals commonly found in the lowland forests of Panama -- carry a wide variety of micro- and macro-organisms on their coarse outer fur. Here we report for the first time the isolation of diverse and bioactive strains of fungi, and their taxonomic placement, from sloth fur. Eighty-four fungi were isolated from the surface of sloth hair that was collected from living three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus, Bradypodidae) in Soberanía National Park, Republic of Panama. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a diverse group of ascomycetous fungi belonging to 28 distinct genotypes, several of which are divergent from previously known taxa. Seventy-four isolates were cultivated in liquid broth and crude extracts were tested for bioactivity in vitro. We found a broad range of activities against the parasites that cause malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) and Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi), and against the human MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Fifty fungal extracts were tested for antibacterial activity in a new antibiotic profile screen called BioMAP; of these, 20 were active against at least one bacterial strain, and one had an unusual pattern of bioactivity against Gram-negative bacteria that suggests a possible new mode of action. Together our results reveal the importance of exploring novel environments for bioactive fungi, and demonstrate for the first time the taxonomic composition and bioactivity of fungi from sloth fur. } }

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