ISSN: 2471-9315
Mayank Gangwar, Vijay C Verma, MK Gautam and Gopal Nath
Mallotus philippinensis Muell an important medicinal plant in the present study i.e., endophytic extracts of different fungi associated with asymptomatic were evaluated for antimicrobial activity. This will be a new promising source of antimicrobials known as endophytes. In this preliminary study, different parts of plants viz. steam and leaves were used for isolation of endophytic fungi and fermented. The endophytic fungi were identified based on their morphology and characteristics of fungal spores. The cell free ferment broth was subjected to antimicrobial assay against different human pathogenic microbes viz. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, E. faecalis, K .pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa and three fungal pathogenic strains of candida i.e. C. albicans, C. tropicalis and C. krusie by using standard disc diffusion method. The results showed that some of these endophytic extracts had prominent antimicrobial inhibitory effects. Among these fungal endophytes, two strains Alternaria spp., Pestalotiopsis spp., and Phompsis spp. showed the strongest antimicrobial activities against P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and E. faecalis. An endophyte Pestalotiopsis spp. had the most pronounced effect on all the Candida strains exhibited the strongest antifungal activity. This present study has proven that both these medicinal plants may be a rich source of endophytic fungi with potential to produce bioactive producing antibacterial and antifungal activities. These antipathogenic endophytes could be applied as new sources of antibiotics in agriculture and pharmaceutical industry.