Abstract
The degradative pathway of 5-alkanolides (alkano-δ-lactones) and 2-deceno-δ-lactone (massoialactone) by Fusarium solani PM-1, a massoialactone-producing fungus, was investigated. (±)-Alkano-δ-lactones were shown to be degraded first to a one-carbon-atom-less methyl ketone, 4-hydroxy-2-alkanones, after hydroxylation. The 4-hydroxy-2-alkanones were then converted to 2, 4-alkanediones or to 2, 4-alkanediols, and are suggested to be successively degraded by modified β-oxidation. (R)-Massoialactone, the main compound in the volatiles produced by the strain, was first saturated to (R)-decano-δ-lactone, and then this saturated lactone was degraded in the same way. These observations lead to a conceptional cycle of acetate moieties throughout the production and degradation of the secondary metabolites.
