IDENTIFICATION AND BIOACTIVE POTENTIAL OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FROM MONOCHORIA HASTATA (L.) SOLMS

Abstract

Drug resistance in microbes has become a global concern and the search for new antimicrobial agents is urgent and ongoing. Endophytes provide an abundant reservoir of bioactive metabolites for medicinal exploitation, and an increasing number of novel compounds are being isolated from endophytic fungi. This study was conducted to characterize and explore the endophytic fungi from the aquatic plant Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms for their bioactive potential. A total of 7 strains of endophytic fungi were isolated and characterized morphologically. Among the isolated strains, 5 strains were identified up to the genus level, of which two belong to Carvularia, while the rest of the isolates comprised of Trichoderma, Penicillium and Fusarium sp. Two isolates could not be assigned to a genus as they did not display taxonomically characterized organisms. Several extracts prepared from the PDA culture of these fungi demonstrated strong antibacterial activity and poor antioxidant activities. Further studies on the selected endophytes may lead to the isolation of novel natural products for use in medicine, industry and agriculture.