Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL AND IMMUNOMODULATORY POTENTIAL OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGUS FUSARIUM SOLANI ISOLATED FROM WITHANIA SOMNIFERA

Salini T S, Dibu Divakaran, Shabanamol S,Sharrel Rebello and Dr. Jisha M S*

Abstract

Recent research indicate that pharmaceutical compounds produced by medicinal plants can also be produced by their inhabitant endophytes and this paves way to a new methodology of science utilizing endophytes as a source of bioactive compounds. This study aimed to add more information on endophyte driven biodiversity and bioactive potential of Withania. About 29 endophytic fungal isolates belonging to 16 different species were isolated from Withania root segments. Preliminary screening for antibacterial agents against common pathogenic bacteria led to isolation six endophytic fungi viz, F.semitectum, F.avenaceum, Fusarium sp, F.oxysporum, Aspergillus sp and F. redolens. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the extracts ranged in concentrations 21-78μg/ml. Endophytic isolate Fusarium solani also possessed immunomodulatory role and bioactive compounds in its the ethyl acetate extract were analysed by GC-MS. Based on its antibacterial and immunomodulatory potential, Fusarium solani was selected, characterized genotypically by 18S rDNA typing and the sequence was deposited in NCBI database under accession number KJ193849. The current study also describes F.solani as a suitable source for biocompound extraction due to its antibacterial and immunomodulatory role. Works on the mycotic biodiversity of endophytes of Withania and their potential to produce novel bioactive compounds are meager and this work becomes relevant.

Keywords: F solani, Withania, endophyte, GC-MS, Immunomodulation.