First Report: Diversity of Endophytic fungi Possessing Antifungal Activity Isolated from Native Kougoed (Sceletium tortuosum L.)

Abstract

Forty-three ( n = 43) endophytic fungi with different morphologic characteristics were from a medicinal plant Sceletium tortuosum, were utilized to investigate their antifungal effectiveness against pathogenic fungi. All fungal isolates exhibited antifungal activity against one or more pathogens in the dual culture test whereas only 33 fungal culture filtrates (77%) showed decent antifungal effect. Fusaria and Aspergillus were the dominate genus that displayed significant antifungal activity. Isolates GG02, GG09, ND15, and ND17 showed the broadest spectrum of antifungal activity. Furthermore, culture filtrate of Fusarium sp. DR08 exhibited a broad range of antifungal activity against all the pathogens. The results suggest endophytic fungi isolated from medicinal plant might be a source of novel bioactive molecules. To the best our knowledge, this is the first report on endophytic fungi isolated from native kougoed exhibiting antifungal activity against plant fungal pathogens.

A Chewable Cure “Kanna”: Biological and Pharmaceutical Properties of Sceletium tortuosum

“…In light of the ongoing research on alkaloids isolated from Sceletium plants, several studies have reported the biological and pharmacological potentials of Sceletium plants [ 1 , 30 , 31 ]. Traditional preparation of the plants through fermentation, referred to as “kougoed”, has renewed attention since it was reported that the fermented form produces higher levels of alkaloids than the dried the plant material [ 32 ].…”