Biological screening of endophytic fungi extracted from different parts of medicinal plants

Abstract

Endophytic fungi reside in the internal plant tissues and are potential source of the natural products that may be used in the discovery of novel antibacterial, antifungal and antitumor agents. The recent work was conducted to isolate and identify endophytic fungi from the three medicinal plants Papaver somniferum (Opium poppy), Cassia fistula (Amaltaas) and Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) and to conduct antimicrobial activities of the crude extract obtained from these endophytic fungal strains. A total of four endophytic fungal strains were isolated of which two were isolated from the roots of P. somniferum, one from leaves of C. fistula and one from the mid rib of C. roseus using Sabouraud Dextrose Agar and labelled as PS3, PS4, CF1 and CR1 respectively. Three of the bioactive fungal strains were identified as Aspergillus spp. and one of genus Curvularia based on the cultural and morphological characteristics using bright field microscopy. After identification, the endophytic fungal strains were grown in Czapek yeast extract broth medium for the production of crude metabolites. Antibacterial activity of the crude isolates were tested against 4 human infectious bacterial species including two gram negative bacteria i.e. Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and two gram positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Different concentration of crude extract were tested i.e. 24 mg/ml, 12 mg/ml and 6 mg/ml, among them the concentration 24 mg/ml showed best antibacterial activity. The crude extract was also tested against two pathogenic fungal strains i.e. Aspergillus niger and Alternaria solani. Our results suggest that the crude extract from these endophytic fungal strains may be potential source in the discovery of novel antibacterial and antifungal drugs.

In Vitro and In Silico Antioxidant Efficiency of Bio-Potent Secondary Metabolites From Different Taxa of Black Seed-Producing Plants and Their Derived Mycoendophytes

“…There have been few studies concerning the bioactivity of black seeds and their derived mycoendophytes. Extracts derived from black seeds using various kinds of organic solvents, as well as their endophytic fungi ( Mohamed et al, 2021 ), possess a significant antioxidant ( Ashraf et al, 2011 ; Metwaly et al, 2019 ), antibacterial ( Youssef et al, 2015 ; Sabra and Ismail, 2019 ), antifungal ( Rizzello et al, 2009 ; Khattak et al, 2020 ), and anticancer efficacy ( Abdulmyanova et al, 2016 ; Leporini et al, 2018 ).…”

Pithoascus kurdistanensis: Discovery of a Novel Endophytic Fungal Species Associated with Papaver bracteatum, and its Production of Morphine Compounds

“…2 bacterial endophytes that were recently isolated from various P. somniferum parts were studied for their capacity to increase resistance to a downy mildew 40 . Moreover, an endophytic fungus isolated from P. somniferum showed potential antimicrobial activities against four human bacterial pathogens and two fungi 41 .…”

Novel biosynthesis of MnO NPs using Mycoendophyte: industrial bioprocessing strategies and scaling-up production with its evaluation as anti-phytopathogenic agents

“…Mycoendophyte (endosymbiont) inhibits plant tissues without destroying the host cells. During the last decades, these mycoendophytes have been of great attention due to their produced unlimited bioactive metabolites, such as phenol, steroids, flavonoids, peptides, etc [20][21][22] . These mycoendophytes are relatively unexplored as a potential source of mixed bioactive metabolites that are used for biosynthesis of nanoparticles 1,8 .…”