Diversity and antimicrobial activity of culturable fungal endophytes in Solanum mauritianum

Date
2020-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Plant endophytes are microbial sources of bioactive secondary metabolites, which mimic the natural compounds chemistry of their respective host plants in a similar manner. This study explored the isolation and identification of fungal endophytes, and investigated the antibacterial and antimycobacterial activity of their crude extracts. Fungal endophytes were isolated from Solanum mauritianum, identified using morphological traits and internal transcribed spacer ribosomal-deoxyribonucleic acid (ITS-rDNA) sequence analysis. Eight fungal endophytes were identified as Aureobasidium pullulans, Paracamarosporium leucadendri, Cladosporium sp., Collectotrichum boninense, Fusarium sp., Hyalodendriella sp., and Talaromyces sp., while Penicillium chrysogenum was isolated from the leaves and unripe fruits. Good activity was observed for the crude extracts of Paracamarosporium leucadendri inhibiting Mycobacterium bovis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 6 µg/mL. Crude extracts of Fusarium sp., showed activity at 9 μg/mL against M. bovis, M. smegmatis and K. pneumonia. In general, the crude extracts showed great activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and novel results for two mycobacteria species M. bovis and M. smegmatis. The results provide evidence of diverse fungal endophytes isolated from Solanum mauritianum, and evidence that fungal endophytes are a good source of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical potential, particularly against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Description
CITATION: Pelo, S., Mavumengwana, V. & Green, E. 2020. Diversity and Antimicrobial Activity of Culturable Fungal Endophytes in Solanum mauritianum. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(2). doi:10.3390/ijerph17020439
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Keywords
Endophytic fungi, Anti-infective agents, Host plants -- Morphology, Metabolites, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Solanum mauritianum, Penicillium chrysogenum
Citation
Pelo, S., Mavumengwana, V. & Green, E. 2020. Diversity and Antimicrobial Activity of Culturable Fungal Endophytes in Solanum mauritianum. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(2). doi:10.3390/ijerph17020439