FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES OF Berberis aristata: DIVERSITY AND ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES

Bioactive natural compounds isolated from plant endophytes are an inspiring source for researchers due to their enormous structural diversity and therapeutic- complexity. Medicinal plants which are known to be used since centuries as an alternative medicine, are a valuable source for bioprospecting endophytes. Nevertheless, due to many reasons there is a dire need of resources for novel drugs which can be useful in treating human diseases. Berberis aristata has been selected for the present study as it has been least explored for endophytes yet. Isolated fungal endophytes were screened for antimicrobial properties using agar well diffusion method against pathogenic bacteria. The isolated fungi were classified on the basis of morphological and molecular analysis. Diversification and species richness was found to be higher in leaf tissues as compared to root. Antibacterial activity demonstrated that the crude ethyl acetate extract of 80% isolates exhibited significant results against one or more bacterial pathogens. Ethyl acetate extract of Colletotrichum acutatum was found to have potential antibacterial activity. Similarly, antifungal activity of the fungal endophytes revealed that all the fungal endophytes possessed inhibition potential against more than one fungal pathogen. This study can be a step forward towards exploring fungal endophytes for bioactive metabolites which can further lead towards development of novel therapeutic agents.