Bioactive hydroanthraquinones and anthraquinone dimers from a soft coral-derived Alternaria sp. fungus

Five new hydroanthraquinone derivatives, tetrahydroaltersolanols C-F (1-4) and dihydroaltersolanol A (5), and five new alterporriol-type anthranoid dimers, alterporriols N-R (12-16), along with seven known analogues (6-11 and 17), were isolated from the culture broth and the mycelia of Alternaria sp. ZJ-2008003, a fungus obtained from a Sarcophyton sp. soft coral collected from the South China Sea. Their structures and the relative configurations were elucidated using comprehensive spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NOE spectra as well as single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Compound 13 represents the first isolated alterporriol dimer with a C-4-C-4' linkage, and the absolute configuration of 4 was determined using the modified Mosher's method. Compounds 1 and 15 exhibited Antiviral activity against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), with IC₅₀ values of 65 and 39 μM, respectively. Compound 14 showed cytotoxic activity against PC-3 and HCT-116 cell lines, with IC₅₀ values of 6.4 and 8.6 μM, respectively.