Page 39 - AWSAR 2.0

Fig. 2. Pool of compounds (crude extract) of endophytes and different bands of endophytes obtained by TLC.
activity on lung, skin, and cervical cancer cell lines. They also optimized the time interval, the organic solvent and the media for the activity; I was most active against cancer cell lines. Oh wow! They achieved good anti-
cancer activity from my pooled compound after 28 days of my growth in M1D media extracted with ethyl acetate. Now, the next task was to separate the compound from me that was responsible for anti-cancer activity.
Ohh! It is (+)-usnic acid
(UA), which I would have
probably got from my host
lichen (Cladonia sp.). UA is a
unique compound produced
exclusively by lichens. They
performed thin-layer chromatography (TLC), obtained many bands and checked each band for anti-cancer activity using an assay known as MTT. They found that the UA produced by me with an Rf value of 0.83 was killing the cancer cells (Fig. 2). Further, they ensured that this was UA and nothing else, using spectroscopic
techniques, namely high-performance liquid chromatography, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, UV-Vis spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. But
why should I produce it? Is it of some use to me? Will it protect me from any stress? They gave me stresses, precursors and elicitors so that I could produce it more. I liked the sugars provided in the form of glucose. I was happy eating that but then, I did not like staying with heavy metals and living under UV light for some time of my day. I had to produce more UA to live under such harsh conditions, and it protected me from many stresses. It seemed
their purpose got solved. They made me a factory for the enhanced production of UA.
Further, they were curious to know how the compound obtained from me killed the skin cancer cells. They started studying the mechanisms followed by my secondary metabolite during the killing of cancer cells.
Dr Madhuree Kumari
|| 15
Well, a lichen is a symbiotic association between an algae/ cyanobacteria and fungi. It is
a mutual relationship between the two where they have to live, adapt, and grow old together. Coping with different microenvironments has resulted in the production of some useful unique compounds by lichens which are often neglected.