Search

AbstractThis study was conducted to characterize and explore the endophytic fungi of Withania somniferaplant for their bioactive potential. A total of 70 segments of W. somniferawere screened and the highest species richness, as well as frequency of colonization was found in root determined as 25%. Endophytic fungi shown significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli, Proteussp, Klebsiella pneumoniaeand Pseudomonassp. and were identified as Corynespora cassicola, Fusarium solaniand Penicillium chrysogenum. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the micro dilution broth was in the range of 21-82 μg/mL. Isolates revealed the presence of different phytochemicals, which includes, terpenoids, tannins, alkaloids and flavonoids. Based on its antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic potential, Fusarium solaniwas selected, characterized genotypically by 28S rDNA typing and the sequence was deposited in NCBI database under accession number KJ193849. Fusarium solaniwas found to possess higher relative percentage reducing power of about 90.62% than that of Corynespora cassicola(57.47%) and Penicillium chrysogenum(52.37%) and the absorbance value obtained is comparable with the control. Percentage cell viability on cultured HeLa cell lines was determined as 6.25 μg/mL (64.74%), 12.5 μg/mL (61.08%), 25 μg/mL (58.68%), 50 μg/mL (53.24%), and 100 μg/mL (49.94%).There was significant reduction in the viability of cancer cells at 100 μg/mL. GC-MS analysis of the HPTLC fractions of Fusarium solanishowed a wide range of compounds and the compounds taraxasterol, acenaphthylene, 3,4-oxadiazole, benzenamine were pharmaceutically important.

AbstractL-asparaginase has been commonly used for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. It is also used in food industry to reduce acrylamide formation during preparation of fried food items containing starch at high temperature. L-asparaginase is widely distributed among the microorganism, animals, and plants. Medicinal plant Withania sominiferawas identified as potential novel source for L-asparaginase enzyme because of its high specific activity of the enzyme. So the fungi reside in the plant was studied for the identification of new enzyme source. Different fungal species were isolated and screened initially for the production of extracellular L-asparaginase using Czapek’sDox medium. The enzyme hydrolyzed zone and unhydrolyzed zone of L-asparagine were standardized using different dyes. The strain Fusarium solanishowed maximum zone diameter (2.7 cm). Further, it was observed that maximum activity of 3.58 IU was achieved by employing orange peel as substrate. Various physical and nutritional parameters were optimized under solid state fermentation as orange peel as substrate and found that, maximum activity obtained with incubation temperature 35°C at pH 5 with potassium di hydrogen phosphate (0.25%), magnesium ions (0.002%) and sucrose (1%) as the best phosphate, metal ions and carbon source respectively.

AbstractThe growing drug resistance among microbes necessitates the identification of novel bioactive compounds from natural sources. The current study focused on isolating prospective endophytic microbes from Sida cordifolia. Different bacterial and fungal endophytes were isolated, among the isolates 3B showed substantial antibacterial and immunomodulatory activity than other isolates. The selected isolate 3B was molecularly identified as Enterobactersp. based on 16S rDNA typing. A comparison of the biomodulatory role of the isolate Enterobactersp. (3B) with that of the host plant extract indicated that the isolate gave comparable results with the chloroform extract of S. cordifoliaplant. An evaluation on the cytotoxic properties of 3B by MTT assay indicated that it was nontoxic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the antibacterial and immunomodulatory role of Enterobacterisolate. The isolation of such promising strains with antibacterial and immunity uplifting properties would surely be promising to biomedicine with the growing antibiotic resistance and hunt for novel therapeutic alternatives.

Interaction of phosphate solubilizing bacteria, Pseudomonas striataor Bacillus polymyxa, with the cellulolytic fungus, Trichoderma harzianumand their influence on the nutrient uptake and yield of Sorghumwas studied in a vertisol amended with cotton stalks. Combined inoculation of T. harzianumand B. polymyxaor P. striataincreased the size and weight of earhead, number of spikelets per ear, straw and grain yield as well as N and P uptake significantly over uninoculated control and single inoculation treatments. Grain yield due to combined inoculation was increased by 6 – 8 per cent over single inoculation of P-solubilizers and by 28 – 30 per cent over single inoculation of T. harzianum. The population of both the interacting organisms and soil available phosphorus were highest in combined inoculation treatments indicating a synergistic interaction between the inoculated organisms.