The chemical and enzymatic interaction of glutathione with the fungal metabolite,fusarin C

Glutathione (GSH) interacts both chemically and enzymatically with fusarin C, a mutagenic metabolite produced by Fusarium moniliforme. The chemical reaction, which is pH-dependent, results in the formation of both fusarin A and a compound that lacks the 2-pyrrolidone moiety thereby suggesting an interaction at the C-13–C-14 epoxide. Enzymatic interaction of fusarin C with GSH also appears to occur at this site as fusarins A and D, which lack the epoxide, do not serve as substrates for GSH-S-transferases. The interaction of GSH with fusarin C appears to be an important deactivation step which could explain the lack of carcinogenicity observed for fusarin C in rats.