Ana Maria Mouad 1 , Mariana Provedel Martins 1 , Stelamar Romminger 1 , Mirna Helena Regali Seleghim 2 , Ana Ligia Leandrini de Oliveira 3 , Hosana Maria Debonsi 3 , Nair Sumie Yokoya 4 , Mutue Toyota Fujii 4 , Michel Rodrigo Zambrano Passarini 5 , Rafaella Costa Bonugli-Santos 5 , Lara Durães Sette 5 , and André Luiz Meleiro Porto 1, * Bioconversion of acetophenones by marine fungi isolated from marine algae Bostrychia radicans and Sargassum sp. ABSTRACT The bioconversion of acetophenone derivatives 1-6 was investigated using whole cells of marine fungi Botryosphaeria sp. Br-09, Eutypella sp. Br-023, Hydropisphaera sp. Br-27 and Xylaria sp. Br-61 isolated from the red alga Bostrychia radicans and Arthopyrenia sp. SGPY-41, Penicillium sp. SMA2-8, Pestalotiopsis sp. SMA2-C isolated from brown alga Sargassum sp. Asymmetric reduction produced the enantiopure (R)- or (S)-alcohols 7-12 with high enantiomeric excess (>99 % ee). This study describes the first investigation with marine-derived fungi recovered from algae for biocatalytic reduction. The fungus Botryosphaeria sp. Br-09 showed excellent reductions for ortho-acetophenone derivatives 1-6. KEYWORDS: Bostrychia radicans, Sargassum sp., marine fungi, reduction, ketones INTRODUCTION Marine environment contain a total of approximately 3.67 x 10 30 microorganisms and 71 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by the ocean [1]. This enormous microbial biodiversity has been little explored to produce novel enzymes and metabolites with biotechnological applications. Therefore, the marine environment represents a significant source of enzymes to be explored in biocatalytic reactions. In this context, marine algae were used for the stereoselective reductions of carbonylic compounds [2-6]. Fluoro, chloro and bromo acetophenone derivatives were reduced with good enantioselectivity using red algae Cyanidioschyzon merolae and Cyanidium caldarium [7]. Acetophenone derivatives are interesting compounds for biotransformation and have been effectively used as a building block for the asymmetric synthesis of drugs [8]. The literature reports the reduction of the carbonyl groups using various biocatalysts such as terrestrial microorganisms [9] and plants [10]. However, the number of reduction process by marine microorganisms has been little explored in 1 Instituto de Química de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Trabalhador São-carlense, 400, CEP 13560-970, CP 780, 2 Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Via Washington Luís, Km 235, CEP 13565-905, São Carlos-SP, 3 Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Departamento de Física e Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida do Café s/n, CEP 14040-903, Ribeirão Preto-SP, 4 Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo, Seção de Ficologia, Av. Miguel Estéfano, 3687, CEP 04301-902, CP 4005, Água Funda, São Paulo-SP, 5 Divisão de Recursos Microbianos, Centro Pluridisciplinar de Pesquisas Químicas, Biológicas e Agrícolas, CPQBA, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Rua Alexandre Casellato, 999, CEP 13140-000, Paulínia-SP, Brazil *almporto@iqsc.usp.br Current Topics in Biotechnology Vol. 7, 2012