Farnesol induces apoptosis-like cell death in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus flavus.

Farnesol (FOH) is known to induce apoptosis in some fungi and mammalian cells. We treated Aspergillus flavus, one of the leading causes of human invasive aspergillosis and a key producer of the most potent naturally occurring hepatocarcinogenic compounds, with FOH to assess its effect on the viability of the fungus. FOH strongly inhibited germination and growth of A. flavus and induced markers for apoptosis including nuclear condensation, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization, DNA fragmentation and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, metacaspase activation and abnormal cellular ultrastructure. Moreover, FOH-induced apoptosis in A. flavus was inhibited by the broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk and partially inhibited by the ROS scavenger l-proline, which suggests that FOH induces apoptosis in A. flavus via a mechanism involving metacaspase activation and ROS production.