Thallphytic Alleopathy: Isolation and Identification of Laetisaric Acid

Laetisaria arvalis, a soil-dwelling basidiomycete fungus, secretes an allelopathic agent that induces rapid hyphal lysis in several phytopathogenic fungi. The active compound was isolated from chloroform:methanol extracts of L. arvalis mycelia and characterized as a previously unknown hydroxy fatty acid, (Z,Z-9,12-8-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid.