Fulvoferruginin, a Carotane Antibiotic from Marasmius fulvoferrugineus

Marasmius fulvoferrugineus is a rather small agaric with a conspicuous reddish brown pileus which can be found quite frequently in the Great Smoky M ountains and the southern United States. Its natural habitats are plant debris or wood in mixed forests. It has been described as a new species by Gilliam [2], The species most close­ ly related is Marasmius siccus (Schwein.) Fr. which differs in the orange colour of the pileus and the size of the basidiospores. Only few antibiotic meta­ bolites have been reported from Marasmius spe­ cies. Among them are sesquiterpenoids like marasmic acid from M. conigenus [3] and the alliacols A and B from M. alliaceus [4, 5], 6-methyl-1,4naphthoquinone from M. graminum [6], and acety­ lenes like scorodonin from M. scorodonius [7]. In the following we wish to describe the fermentation, isolation, structural elucidation and biological characterization of fulvoferruginin, the first caro­ tane sesquiterpenoid from a basidiomycete [8],