Bioassay guided characterisation of endomycophytes from Barringtonia acutangula L. leaves

Medicinal plants have been considered as a host of fungal endophytes with novel metabolites of pharmaceutical importance. Most endophytic fungi that live in higher plants are capable of producing secondary metabolites which are medicinally significant components whose activity against pathogens have been studied previously. Hence an effort was taken to isolate endophytic fungi from leaves of Barringtonia acutangula commonly called the Indian oak or Samudraphal, an evergreen tree with medicinal properties. Two endophytic fungi were successfully isolated and grown in culture plates followed by extraction of secondary metabolites. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the secondary metabolites were checked. Molecular characterization was performed by PCR and sequencing of the ITS region, followed by BLAST and Phylogenetic analysis.The antimicrobial tests showed significant activities against bacteria like Bacillus subtillis, Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and fungi such as Microsporumgypseum and Trichophytonrubrum. The endophytic fungi were identified as Colletotrichumgloeosporioides (Accession no: JQ844304) and Phomopsis species (Accession no: KC168054). This research was aimed to identify bioactive Endophytic fungi that can serve as alternate sources of alkaloids that are usually produced by their hosts. Identification of such fungi would play a vital role in Pharmacology and Toxicology studies.