Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the antim
icrobial activities of the endophytic
fungi from
Sesbania grandiflora
(L.) Pers. The endophytic fungi were isolated from
branches and leaves of
Sesbania grandiflora
(L.) Pers., and sixty nine isolates were
obtained. All isolates were screened for antibacter
ial and antifungal activities. The
indicator organisms were 4 bacteria including
Staphylococcus aureus
ATCC 25923,
Bacillus subtilis
ATCC 6633,
Escherichia coli
ATCC 25922 and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
ATCC 27853, two yeasts, namely,
Candida albicans
and
Cryptococcus neoformans,
and 6
molds including
Rhizopus
spp
.
,
Mucor
spp.,
Penicillium
spp.,
Aspergillus
spp
.
,
Curvularia
spp
.
,
and
Alternaria
spp
.
. It was found that 28 and 16 isolates showed antib
acterial
activity against gram positive and gram negative ba
cteria, respectively. Also, 11 and 17
isolates showed antifungal activity against yeasts
and hyaline non-septate hyphae,
respectively. Besides, 13 and 65 isolates showed an
tifungal activity against hyaline septate
and dematiaceous, respectively. There were 9 isolat
es that could inhibit bacteria, yeast,
and molds. Macroscopic and microscopic examination
of the fungal morphology revealed
that most of the endophytic fungi (25 isolates) wer
e hyaline septate hyphae. Only 3 isolates
were hyaline non-septate hyphae.
Fusarium
spp
.
and
Acremonium
spp
.
were the
predominate species among the isolated endophytic f
ungi. These results indicated that
some endophytic fungi isolated from
Sesbania grandiflora
(L.) Pers. were potential sources
of antimicrobial compounds against the tested bacte
ria, yeasts, and molds.
Keywords
: Antifungal activity, Bioactive compounds, Co-evol
ution relations, Host plants.
