Mitochondrial Signs and Subcellular Imaging Provide Insight into the Antifungal Mechanism of Carabrone against Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici

Carabrone, a botanical bicyclic sesquiterpenic lactone, has broad-spectrum antifungal activity and is particularly efficient against the devastating phytopathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt). The antifungal mechanism of carabrone against Ggt, however, remains unclear. The main objective of this study was to investigate the subcellular localization of carabrone in Ggt to gain a better understanding of its mechanism of action. When Ggt was exposed to carabrone (EC50 value of 28.45 μg/mL) for 7 days, a decline in mitochondrial concentration together with some obvious alternations in mitochondrial structure, including hazy outlines, medullary transitions, excess accumulation of unclear settlings, and vacuolar degeneration, were observed, indicating that carbrone may act on the mitochondria directly. A fluorescent conjugate (TTY) was thus designed and synthesized as a surrogate of carabrone that possessed comparable antifungal activity against Ggt (EC50 of 33.68 μg/mL). Additionally, a polyclonal antibody specific to carabrone and with a high titer (256 000) was also prepared by immunizing mice. Subsequently, two imaging techniques, the use of the fluorescent conjugate (FC) and immunofluorescence (IF), were applied to determine the subcellular localization of carabrone. Both FC and IF fluorescent signals demonstrated its mitochondrial localization with a Pearson’s coefficient of 0.83 for FC and 0.86 for IF. These results imply that carabrone exerts its antifungal activity against Ggt by interfering with mitochondrial function.