Chemical characterization of fatty acids, alkanes, n-diols and alkyl esters produced by a mixed culture of Trichoderma koningii and Penicillium janthinellum grown aerobically on undecanoic acid, potatoe dextrose and their mixture
ABSTRACT Little is known about the mixed fungal synthesis of high-value aliphatics derived from the metabolism of simple and complex carbon substrates. Trichoderma koningii and Penicillium janthinellum were fed with undecanoic acid (UDA), potatoe dextrose broth (PDB), and their mixture. Pyrolysis Field Ionization Mass Spectrometry (Py-FIMS) together with 1H and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) characterized CHCl3 soluble aliphatics in the fungal cell culture. Data from NMR and Py-FIMS analysis were complementary to each other. On average, the mixed fungal species produced mostly fatty acids (28% of total ion intensity, TII) > alkanes (2% of TII) > n-diols (2% of TII) > and alkyl esters (0.8% of TII) when fed with UDA, PDB or UDA+PDB. The cell culture accumulated aliphatics extracellularly, although most of the identified compounds accumulated intracellularly. The mixed fungal culture produced high-value chemicals from the metabolic conversion of simple and complex carbon substrates.