Steroids and anthraquinones from the deep-sea-derived fungus Aspergillus nidulans MCCC 3A00050

Aspergillus nidulans MCCC 3A00050 was isolated from a deep-sea sediment sample of the western Pacific Ocean. A systematic investigation on its chemical constituents led to the isolation of 19 compounds, including 13 steroids (1-13), four anthraquinones (14-17), one phenolics (18), and one chromanone (19). For the first time, three diosgenins (1-3) were isolated from fungi, three ergosterols (4-6) from the genus of Aspergillus, while other 11 miscellaneous compounds (7-11 and 14-19) from the species of Aspergillus nidulans. The isolation of diosgenins (1-3) and ergosterols (4-6) might be used as chemotaxonomic markers for the genus of Aspergillus and the species of Aspergillus nidulans, respectively.