Crude extracts and fractions of five species of Polygala - P. campestris, P. cyparissias, P. paniculata, P. pulchella and P. sabulosa - were investigated for their in vitro antifungal activity against opportunistic Candida species, Cryptococcus gattii and Sporothrix schenckii with bioautographic and microdilution assays. In the bioautographic assays, the major extracts were active against the fungi tested. In the minimal concentration inhibitory (MIC) assay, the hexane extract of P. paniculata and EtOAc fraction of P. sabulosa showed the best antifungal activity, with MIC values of 60 and 30 µg/mL, respectively, against C. tropicalis, C. gattii and S. schenckii. The compounds isolated from P. sabulosa prenyloxycoumarin and 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexanehexol displayed antifungal activity against S. schenckii (with MICs of 125 µg/mL and 250 µg/mL, respectively) and C. gattii (both with MICs of 250 µg/mL). Rutin and aurapten isolated from P. paniculata showed antifungal activity against C. gattii with MIC values of 60 and 250 µg/mL, respectively. In the antifungal screening, few of the isolated compounds showed good antifungal inhibition. The compound α-spinasterol showed broad activity against the species tested, while rutin had the best activity with the lowest MIC values for the microorganisms tested. These two compounds may be chemically modified by the introduction of a substitute group that would alter several physico-chemical properties of the molecule, such as hydrophobicity, electronic density and steric strain.

O presente trabalho relata resultados parciais sobre a variabilidade de Colletotrichum graminicola, agente causal da antracnose do sorgo (Sorghum bicolor), desenvolvida em resposta à diversidade gerada na população hospedeira através de misturas formadas pela combinação, três a três, de diferentes linhagens de sorgo. Nove linhagens foram utilizadas neste estudo: CMSXS210B, CMSXS112B, CMSXS215B, CMSXS221B, CMSXS169R, CMSXS180R, CMSXS182R, CMSXS227R, and CMSXS116R. Misturas e estandes puros de cada linhagem componente, em um total de 39 tratamentos, foram avaliados no campo, para o desenvolvimento da antracnose em condições de infecção natural. Amostras de isolados monospóricos do patógeno obtidas de cada tratamento indicaram uma redução na diversidade fenotípica do patógeno e um aumento na freqüência de raças de maior complexidade em todas as misturas em relação aos estandes puros de cada genótipo.

This paper reports partial results obtained on the variability of Colletotrichum graminicola developed in response to the host diversity generated by three-line combination of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) genotypes. Nine sorghum lines were used in this study: CMSXS210B, CMSXS112B, CMSXS215B, CMSXS221B, CMSXS169R, CMSXS180R, CMSXS182R, CMSXS227R, and CMSXS116R. A total of 39 treatments on mixtures and pure stands of the component lines were evaluated in the field for the development of anthracnose, as a natural epidemic. Samples of the single spore isolates of the pathogen of each treatment indicated a reduction in the phenotypic diversity and an increase in the frequency of more complex races in genotype mixtures in relation to the pure stands of each genotype.

The patterns of genetic variation of samples of Candida spp. isolated from patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus in Vitória, state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, were examined. Thirty-seven strains were isolated from different anatomical sites obtained from different infection episodes of 11 patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These samples were subjected to randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using 9 different primers. Reproducible and complex DNA banding patterns were obtained. The experiments indicated evidence of dynamic process of yeast colonization in HIV-infected patients, and also that certain primers are efficient in the identification of species of the Candida genus. Thus, we conclude that RAPD analysis may be useful in providing genotypic characters for Candida species typing in epidemiological investigations, and also for the rapid identification of pathogenic fungi.