Malonichrome,a new iron chelate from Fusarium roseum

The predominant iron chelates, or siderochromes, produced by the fungus, Fusarium roseum during culture periods up to seven days are the ester type fusarinine compounds. During longer periods of incubation, the fusarinine compounds completely disappear from the culture medium and are replaced by a new siderochrome. The new compound has been isolated, purified, and its structure determined. It is a cyclic hexapeptide containing one residue of l-alanine, two residues of glycine and three residues of δ-N-hydroxyornithine. The hydroxylamino groups of the ornithine residues are acylated with 3 mol of malonic acid to form a negatively charged ferrichrome type chelate. The circular dichroism spectrum indicates that the stereochemistry about the iron is Λ-cis. This compound, which we name malonichrome, is not an efficient iron donor to F. roseum nor does it show growth factor activity towards Arthrobacter flavescens.