The endophytic fungus Aspergillus sp. CPCC 400735 was isolated from the plant Kadsura longipedunculata collected in Leishan of Guizhou province, China. The strain was cultured on PDA (0.3% potato extract, 2% glucose, 1.5% agar power) at 28 ℃ for 5 days. Under aseptic conditions, agar plugs were cut into small pieces and inoculated in 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks, each containing 100 mL of seed medium [glucose 2%, sucrose 1%, soybean powder 0.2%, peptone 1%, K₂HPO₄ 0.03%, poly(ethylene glycol) 0.25%, NaNO₃ 0.3%, and (NH₄)₂SO₄ 0.3%; the final pH of the medium was adjusted to 6.0 before sterilization with an autoclave at 121 ℃ for 20 min]. Cultures were incubated in flasks at 28 ℃ on a rotary shaker at 190 rpm for 2 days to prepare the seed culture. We filled each of 32 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks with 80 g of rice and 120 mL of distilled H₂O. After soaking for 5 h, the contents were sterilized with an autoclave at 121 ℃ for 20 min. After cooling to room temperature, each flask was inoculated with 10 mL of seed culture and incubated at 28 ℃ for 40 days.

The fungus Epicoccum sp., isolate CAFTBO, was obtained from the stem bark and leaves of Theobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) collected from Mount Kala, near Yaounde, Centre Province, Republic of Cameroon, in September 2008. For large-scale fermentation, the producing strain (Epicoccum sp. CAFTBO) was cultured on YMG agar (2 g/L yeast extract, 5 g/L malt extract, 5 g/L glucose, 15 g/L agar) at 25 °C for 6 d. Agar plugs were used to inoculate five P-flasks, each containing 300 g of rice and 350 mL of distilled water. The cultures were incubated at room temperature for 6 weeks.