Pithoascus kurdistanensis: Discovery of a Novel Endophytic Fungal Species Associated with Papaver bracteatum, and its Production of Morphine Compounds

Abstract Papaver genus, commonly known as popies, is a valuable source of alkaloids used in medicine, including papaverine, morphine, codeine, and thebaine. We isolated six endophytic fungal isolates producing morphinan alkaloids from four Papaver species growing in Kurdistan Province, Iran. To do this, a 1:1 mixture of methanol and chloroform was used to extract fungal cultures. The contents of morphinan alkaloids in the extracts were subsequently determined using phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Among the morphinan alkaloid-producing fungal isolates, IRAN 4653C had the highest yield giving 23.06 (Mg/g) morphine and 2.03 (Mg/g) codeine when grown in potato dextrose liquid medium. Moreover, the morphinan productivity of IRAN 4653C was further validated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The identity of this isolate was examined and recognized as a new fungal species named as Pithoascus kurdistanesis sp. nov. based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of ITS, TEF-1α, and TUB2 sequence data and morphological features. The morphinan-producing endophytic fungus and the isolated Pithoascus species from Papaver are being reported for the first time. Accordingly, this fungus shows promise as a new source of valuable compounds which is illustrated and introduced here as a new Microascaceae member belonging to Pithoascus from Kurdistan Province, Iran.