Biodiversity of endophytic fungi from seven herbaceous medicinal plants of Malnad region, Western Ghats, southern India

Agumbe, the Cherrapunji of southern India, is a bastion of rich endemic flora. In the present study of random sampling, a total of 570 species of flowering plants were collected belonging to 370 genera and 105 families, including a few endemic and Red Listed medicinal plants such as Garcinia gummi-gutta (L.) Roxb., Dipterocarpus indicus Bedd., Dysoxylum malabaricum Bedd. ex C.DC., Elaeocarpus tuberculatus Roxb., Hopea canarensis Hole, Calophyllum apetalum Willd., Adenia hondala (Gaertn.) W.J.de Wilde, and Myristica dactyloides Gaertn. Family Leguminosae contributes the maximum number of species (47 species) followed by Rubiaceae (32 species) and Asteraceae (27 species) and Genera Ficus (9 species), Diospyros (8 species) and Syzygium (7 species) are the dominant genera. Trees (185 species) are the dominant species followed by herbs (162 species), climbers (117 species), shrubs (62 species), grasses and sedges (19 species), epiphytes (15 species) and parasites (10 species).

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Bioactive natural products of endophytic fungi from medicinal plants growing in Timor Island

10.1055/s-0039-3399637 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

A R B Ola

Keyword(s):

Natural Products ◽

Medicinal Plants ◽

Endophytic Fungi ◽

Bioactive Natural Products

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Antioxidant Activities of Medicinal Plant Fagraea ceylanica from Western Ghats, Southern India

Current Nutrition & Food Science ◽

10.2174/1573401313666170712105159 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 406-413

Author(s):

Sapna P. Vasanthkumar ◽

Ambarish C. Nair

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plant ◽

Western Ghats ◽

Antioxidant Activities ◽

Southern India

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Isolation and Characterization of Fungal Endophytes Isolated from Medicinal Plant Ephedra pachyclada as Plant Growth-Promoting

Biomolecules ◽

10.3390/biom11020140 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 140 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ahmed Mohamed Aly Khalil ◽

Saad El-Din Hassan ◽

Sultan M. Alsharif ◽

Ahmed M. Eid ◽

Emad El-Din Ewais ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plants ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Aspergillus Flavus ◽

Endophytic Fungi ◽

Fungal Endophytes ◽

Penicillium Crustosum ◽

Plant Growth Promoting ◽

Penicillium Commune ◽

Maize Plants ◽

Growth Promoting

Endophytic fungi are widely present in internal plant tissues and provide different benefits to their host. Medicinal plants have unexplored diversity of functional fungal association; therefore, this study aimed to isolate endophytic fungi associated with leaves of medicinal plants Ephedra pachyclada and evaluate their plant growth-promoting properties. Fifteen isolated fungal endophytes belonging to Ascomycota, with three different genera, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Aspergillus, were obtained from healthy leaves of E. pachyclada. These fungal endophytes have varied antimicrobial activity against human pathogenic microbes and produce ammonia and indole acetic acid (IAA), in addition to their enzymatic activity. The results showed that Penicillium commune EP-5 had a maximum IAA productivity of 192.1 ± 4.04 µg mL−1 in the presence of 5 µg mL−1 tryptophan. The fungal isolates of Penicillium crustosum EP-2, Penicillium chrysogenum EP-3, and Aspergillus flavus EP-14 exhibited variable efficiency for solubilizing phosphate salts. Five representative fungal endophytes of Penicillium crustosum EP-2, Penicillium commune EP-5, Penicillium caseifulvum EP-11, Alternaria tenuissima EP-13, and Aspergillus flavus EP-14 and their consortium were selected and applied as bioinoculant to maize plants. The results showed that Penicillium commune EP-5 increased root lengths from 15.8 ± 0.8 to 22.1 ± 0.6. Moreover, the vegetative growth features of inoculated maize plants improved more than the uninoculated ones.

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