Isolation and characterization of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol as a hormogonium-inducing factor (HIF) from the coralloid roots of Cycas revoluta (Cycadaceae)

Coralloid roots are specialized tissues of cycads (Cycas revoluta) that are involved in symbioses with nitrogen-fixing Nostoc cyanobacteria. We found that a crude methanolic extract of coralloid roots induced differentiation of the filamentous cell aggregates of Nostoc species into motile hormogonia. Hence, the hormogonium-inducing factor (HIF) was chased using bioassay-based isolation, and the active principle was characterized as a mixture of diacylglycerols (DAGs), mainly composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (1), 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycerol (2), 1-stearoyl-2-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (3), and 1-stearoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (4). Enantioselectively synthesised compound 1 showed a clear HIF activity at 1 nmol (0.6 µg) disc(−1) for the filamentous cells, whereas synthesised 2-linoleoyl-3-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (1′) and 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-rac-glycerol (1/1′) were less active than 1. Conversely, synthesised 1-linoleoyl-2-palmitoyl-rac-glycerol (8/8′) which is an acyl positional isomer of compound 1 was inactive. In addition, neither 1-monoacylglycerols nor phospholipids structurally related to 1 showed HIF-like activities. As DAGs are protein kinase C (PKC) activators, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (12), urushiol C15:3-Δ(10,13,16) (13), and a skin irritant anacardic acid C15:1-Δ(8) (14) were also examined for HIF-like activities toward the Nostoc cells. Neither 12 nor 13 showed HIF-like activities, whereas 14 showed an HIF-like activity at 1 nmol/disc. These findings appear to indicate that some DAGs act as hormogonium-inducing signal molecules for filamentous Nostoc cyanobacteria.