Isolation of fungal endophytes from hulimavu lake flora and characterization and optimization of fungal enzymes

Abstract

The present work was aimed at isolating fungal endophytes from Hulimavu Lake, newlineextracting their secondary metabolites and fungal enzymes to subsequently probe the newlinebiological properties of these fungal endophytic bioactive compounds and enzymes. newlineHulimavu Lake, known for its notoriously high levels of pollution contributed by newlineanthropogenic factors, was chosen for this study with the literature-evidence backed newlinehypothesis that plant habitat stress also positively favors the type and quanta of bioactive compounds with novel features produced by its endophytes. Literature survey was performed to identify the probable types of plants found in this lake that could be used for the study and these were subsequently collected, identified and processed under laboratory conditions. These plants were authenticated by a certified botanist and were identified as Alternanthera philoxeroides, Ricinus communis and Persicaria glabra. Fungal endophytes were then isolated from different plant parts collected and were screened using preliminary LCB staining followed by DNA sequencing analysis. Based on ITS region sequencing, nucleotide homology and phylogenetic tree mapping, these fungal endophytic cultures were identified as Aspergillus niger, Talaromyces amestolkiae, Cladosporium phaseolorum and Diaporthe phaseolorum. Crude extracts obtained from these fungal endophytes displayed bacterial growth inhibition and significant free radical scavenging/ reduction potential that was comparable to standard ascorbic acid, hence depicting antioxidant activity of these extracts. Owing to their biological properties these crude extracts were further tested for cytotoxic properties on newlinedifferent models like that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker s yeast), Artemia salina newline(Brine shrimp) and MCF-7 cell line. The presence of fungal endophytic enzymes like newlineprotease, amylase, laccase and lipase was detected qualitatively and estimated newlinequantitatively.