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Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Australia, Chaetomella pseudocircinoseta and Coniella pseudodiospyri on Eucalyptus microcorys leaves, Cladophialophora eucalypti, Teratosphaeria dunnii and Vermiculariopsiella dunnii on Eucalyptus dunnii leaves, Cylindrium grande and Hypsotheca eucalyptorum on Eucalyptus grandis leaves, Elsinoe salignae on Eucalyptus saligna leaves, Marasmius lebeliae on litter of regenerating subtropical rainforest, Phialoseptomonium eucalypti (incl. Phialoseptomonium gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus grandis × camaldulensis leaves, Phlogicylindrium pawpawense on Eucalyptus tereticornis leaves, Phyllosticta longicauda as an endophyte from healthy Eustrephus latifolius leaves, Pseudosydowia eucalyptorum on Eucalyptus sp. leaves, Saitozyma wallum on Banksia aemula leaves, Teratosphaeria henryi on Corymbia henryi leaves. Brazil, Aspergillus bezerrae, Backusella azygospora, Mariannaea terricola and Talaromyces pernambucoensis from soil, Calonectria matogrossensis on Eucalyptus urophylla leaves, Calvatia brasiliensis on soil, Carcinomyces nordestinensis on Bromelia antiacantha leaves, Dendryphiella stromaticola on small branches of an unidentified plant, Nigrospora brasiliensis on Nopalea cochenillifera leaves, Penicillium alagoense as a leaf endophyte on a Miconia sp., Podosordaria nigrobrunnea on dung, Spegazzinia bromeliacearum as a leaf endophyte on Tilandsia catimbauensis, Xylobolus brasiliensis on decaying wood. Bulgaria, Kazachstania molopis from the gut of the beetle Molops piceus. Croatia, Mollisia endocrystallina from a fallen decorticated Picea abies tree trunk. Ecuador, Hygrocybe rodomaculata on soil. Hungary, Alfoldia vorosii (incl.Alfoldia gen. nov.) from Juniperus communis roots, Kiskunsagia ubrizsyi (incl. Kiskunsagia gen. nov.) from Fumana procumbens roots. India, Aureobasidium tremulum as laboratory contaminant, Leucosporidium himalayensis and Naganishia indica from windblown dust on glaciers. Italy, Neodevriesia cycadicola on Cycas sp. leaves, Pseudocercospora pseudomyrticola on Myrtus communis leaves, Ramularia pistaciae on Pistacia lentiscus leaves, Neognomoniopsis quercina (incl. Neognomoniopsis gen. nov.) on Quercus ilex leaves. Japan, Diaporthe fructicola on Passiflora edulis × P. edulis f. flavicarpa fruit, Entoloma nipponicum on leaf litter in a mixed Cryptomeria japonica and Acer spp. forest. Macedonia, Astraeus macedonicus on soil. Malaysia, Fusicladium eucalyptigenum on Eucalyptus sp. twigs, Neoacrodontiella eucalypti (incl. Neoacrodontiella gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus urophylla leaves. Mozambique, Meliola gorongosensis on dead Philenoptera violacea leaflets. Nepal, Coniochaeta dendrobiicola from Dendriobium lognicornu roots. New Zealand, Neodevriesia sexualis and Thozetella neonivea on Archontophoenix cunninghamiana leaves. Norway, Calophoma sandfjordenica from a piece of board on a rocky shoreline, Clavaria parvispora on soil, Didymella finnmarkica from a piece of Pinus sylvestris driftwood. Poland, Sugiyamaella trypani from soil. Portugal, Colletotrichum feijoicola from Acca sellowiana. Russia, Crepidotus tobolensis on Populus tremula debris, Entoloma ekaterinae, Entoloma erhardii and Suillus gastroflavus on soil, Nakazawaea ambrosiae from the galleries of Ips typographus under the bark of Picea abies. Slovenia, Pluteus ludwigii on twigs of broadleaved trees. South Africa, Anungitiomyces stellenboschiensis (incl. Anungitiomyces gen. nov.) and Niesslia stellenboschiana on Eucalyptus sp. leaves, Beltraniella pseudoportoricensis on Podocarpus falcatus leaf litter, Corynespora encephalarti on Encephalartos sp. leaves, Cytospora pavettae on Pavetta revoluta leaves, Helminthosporium erythrinicola on Erythrina humeana leaves, Helminthosporium syzygii on a Syzygium sp. barkcanker, Libertasomyces aloeticus on Aloe sp. leaves, Penicillium lunae from Musa sp. fruit, Phyllosticta lauridiae on Lauridia tetragona leaves, Pseudotruncatella bolusanthi (incl. Pseudotruncatellaceae fam. nov.) and Dactylella bolusanthi on Bolusanthus speciosus leaves. Spain, Apenidiella foetida on submerged plant debris, Inocybe grammatoides on Quercus ilex subsp. ilex forest humus, Ossicaulis salomii on soil, Phialemonium guarroi from soil. Thailand, Pantospora chromolaenae on Chromolaena odorata leaves. Ukraine, Cadophora helianthi from Helianthus annuus stems. USA, Boletus pseudopinophilus on soil under slash pine, Botryotrichum foricae, Penicillium americanum and Penicillium minnesotense from air. Vietnam, Lycoperdon vietnamense on soil. Morphological and culture characteristics are supported by DNA barcodes.

The present study aims to identify the diverse endophytic fungi residing in the roots of Dendrobium moniliforme and their role in plant growth and development. Nine endophytic fungi were isolated from the root sections and characterized by molecular technique. Quantification of the indole acetic acid (IAA) compound by these endophytes was done. Further, Chemical profiling of R11 and R13 fungi was done by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS). Asymbiotic seed derived protocorms of Rhynchostylis retusa was used for the plant growth assay to investigate the growth promoting activities of the fungal elicitor prepared from the isolated fungi from D. moniliforme. Among the isolated fungi, the relative dominant fungus was Fusarium sp. The R13 and R6 fungi were identified only at the genus level which concludes the fungi are of new species or strain. The indole acetic acid production was relatively higher in R10. Bioactive compound diversity was observed in the organic extract of R11 and R6. The presence of phenolic compound and essential oil suggest their contribution for the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties to their host plant, D. moniliforme. The plant growth assay result concluded, the fungal elicitor prepared from R10, Colletotrichum alatae was the best among all other for the plant growth activities.

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BackgroundThe medicinal orchid Dendrobium moniliforme contains water-soluble polysaccharides, phenanthrenes, bibenzyl derivatives, and polyphenol compounds. This study explored the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of D. moniliforme extracts and detected their bioactive compounds.MethodsPlant material was collected from the Daman of Makawanpur district in central Nepal. Plant extracts were prepared from stems using hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and methanol. The total polyphenol content (TPC) in each extract was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu’s reagent and the total flavonoid content (TFC) in each extract was determined using the aluminium chloride method. The in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of each extract were determined using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assays respectively. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was used to detect bioactive compounds.ResultsTPC content was highest (116.65 μg GAE/mg of extract) in D. moniliforme chloroform extract (DMC) and TFC content was highest (116.67 μg QE/mg of extract) in D. moniliforme acetone extract (DMA). D. moniliforme hexane extract (DMH) extract showed the highest percentage of DPPH radical scavenging activity (94.48%), followed closely by D. moniliforme ethanol extract (DME) (94.45%), DMA (93.71%) and DMC (94.35%) at 800 μg/ml concentration. The antioxidant capacities of DMC, DMA, DMH and DME, which were measured in IC50 values, were much lower 42.39 μg/ml, 49.56 μg/ml, 52.68 μg/ml, and 58.77 μg/ml respectively than the IC50 of D. moniliforme methanol extract (DMM) (223.15 μg/ml). DMM at the concentration of 800 μg/ml most inhibited the growth of HeLa cells (78.68%) and DME at the same concentration most inhibited the growth of U251 cells (51.95%). The cytotoxic capacity (IC50) of DMM against HeLa cells was 155.80 μg/ml of extract and that of DME against the U251 cells was 772.50 μg/ml of extract. A number of bioactive compounds were detected in both DME and DMM.ConclusionThe fact that plant extract of D. moniliforme has a number of bioactive compounds which showed antioxidant and cytotoxic activities suggests the potential pharmacological importance of this plant.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-018-2197-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Approximately 80% of the world inhabitants depend on the medicinal plants in the form of traditional formulations for their primary health care system well as in the treatment of a number of diseases since the ancient time. Many commercially used drugs have come from the information of indigenous knowledge of plants and their folk uses. Linking of the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants to modern research activities provides a new reliable approach, for the discovery of novel drugs much more effectively than with random collection. Increase in population and increasing demand of plant products along with illegal trade are causing depletion of medicinal plants and many are threatened in natural habitat. Plant tissue culture technique has proved potential alternative for the production of desirable bioactive components from plants, to produce the enough amounts of plant material that is needed and for the conservation of threatened species. Different plant tissue culture systems have been extensively studied to improve and enhance the production of plant chemicals in various medicinal plants.

Dendrobium crepidatum is an epiphytic orchid found in south Asia including Nepal and China. This orchid species is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, cataracts, and fever. The objectives of the present research were to assess the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of its stem’s extracts with the identification of bioactive secondary metabolites. The antioxidant and cytotoxic activities were evaluated using the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assays, respectively, and compounds were identified using GC–MS (gas chromatography and mass spectrometry). Ethanol and acetone extracts scavenged 94.69 ± 0.10% and 93.41 ± 0.86% of DPPH free radicals, respectively. They showed 50% inhibition of DPPH free radicals (IC50) at concentrations of 73.90 µg/mL and 99.44 µg/mL, which were found to be statistically similar to that of ascorbic acid (control). Chloroform extract inhibited the growth of 81.49 ± 0.43% of HeLa (human cervical carcinoma) cells and hexane extract inhibited the growth of 76.45 ± 4.26% of U251 (human glioblastoma) cells at 800 µg/mL concentration. These extracts showed 50% inhibition of cell growth (IC50) toward both the HeLa and U251 cell lines at their high concentrations, which were found statistically significantly different from that of cisplatin drug (control). The above extracts showed antioxidant and cytotoxic properties, potentially due to the presence of tetracosane, triacontane, stigmasterol, and some phenol derivatives (2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, 2-methoxy-5-(1-propenyl)-phenol, p-mesyloxyphenol, and 2,6-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl)-phenol). This study explores the potential of this orchid in alternative medicine toward the development of drugs from its medicinally active compounds.

Cymbidium aloifolium is known for its ornamental and medicinal values. It has been listed as threatened orchid species. In this study, in vitro propagated C. aloifolium plantlets were interacted with the Piriformospora indica. The growth assay was performed for 45 days; the plant growth pattern such as number and length of roots and shoots were measured. Microscopic study of the root section stained by trypan blue was done to detect the peloton formation. The methanol extracts of the fungal colonized plant as well as uncolonized (control) plant were prepared and various metabolites were identified by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy. Acclimatization was done in a substrate composition of coco peat: gravel: charcoal in ratio 2:2:1. P. indica-colonized plantlet showed the highest growth with the formation of clamdospore in the root section. The growth regulator such as auxin, ascorbic acid, andrographolide, hexadecanoic acid, and DL-proline were identified. After three months of field transfer, plantlet colonized by P. indica survived and remained healthy as compared to uncolonized control plantlet.