AIM: Mangrove is one of the oldest living tree species and its leaves are among the most extensively studied botanicals in use today. Scientific research throughout the world has found evidence to support the fact that its foliar extracts have great potential against human microbial pathogens. This study highlights the isolation of foliar fungi from Rhizophora mucronata, Avicenna officialis and Avicenna marina. METHOD: It was isolated in Sabouroud's Dextrose Agar and mass cultivation was done in Sabouroud's Dextrose broth. RESULTS: The ethyl acetate extract showed maximum antibacterial activity which inturn checked for different concentration against bacterial pathogens and anticancer activity for Hep2 and MCF7 cell line in vitro. The DNA was isolated from the fungi and the ITS region of 5.8 s RNA was sequenced and assigned to new species as they are separated from the type strains phylogenetic neighbors by sequence similarities. CONCLUSION This preliminary screening of fungal endophytes revealed their potential to yield potent bioactive compounds for drug discovery programmes.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Avicennia ; microbiology ; Base Sequence ; Biological Products ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA, Fungal ; Endophytes ; Humans ; Hypocrea ; genetics ; MCF-7 Cells ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Phylogeny ; Phytotherapy ; RNA, Satellite ; Rhizophoraceae ; microbiology ; Species Specificity

OBJECTIVETo investigate the cytotoxic activity of endophytic fungi isolated from mangrove fungi.

METHODSIn the present study the DNA was isolated and the ITS region of 5.8s rRNA was amplified using specific primers ITS 1 and ITS4 and sequence was determined using automated sequencers. Blast search sequence similarity was found against the existing non redundant nucleotide sequence database thus, identified as Aspergilus flavus, Hyporcaea lixii, Aspergillus niger, Eutorium amstelodami, Irpex hydnoides and Neurospora crassa. Among the seven isolates, one fungi Irpex hydnoides was selected for further studies. The fungi were grown in sabouraud broth for five days and filtrate were separated and subjected to ethyl acetate for further studies.

RESULTSNearly half (49.25%) of the extracts showed activity (IC50 of 125µg/mL). These values were within the cutoff point of the National Cancer Institute criteria for cytotoxicity (IC50<20 µg/mL) in the screening of crude plant extracts. The GC MS analysis revealed that the active principals might be Tetradecane (6.26%) with the RT 8.606.

CONCLUSIONSIt is clear from the present study that mangrove fungi with bioactive metabolites can be expected to provide high quality biological material for high throughout biochemical, anti cancer screening programmes. The results help us conclude that the potential of using metabolic engineering and post genomic approaches to isolate more novel bioactive compounds and to make their possible commercial application is not far off.

Basidiomycota ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; Biological Products ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Verbenaceae ; microbiology