<em>In vitro</em> studies on anti-diabetic, anti-bacterial and phytochemical activities of endophytic fungal extracts from <em>Salacia species</em>

Abstract

In the current investigation, 474 endophytic fungi were isolated from 1200 plant parts of four species of Indian traditional medicinal plant Salacia collected in different seasons. Among them, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium notatum, Pestalotiopsis sps and Phoma sps were isolated as a dominant genus from S. chinensis, S. oblonga, S. fruticosa and S. macrosperma respectively. Most of the isolates have shown potential anti-diabetic activity through alpha-amylase inhibitor activity at different levels. Among them, metabolite extracted from endophytic fungi Colletotrichum species isolated from Salacia macrosperma resulted in significant inhibition exhibiting IC50 values of 106.11 μg/ml and 124.62 μg/ml against α-amylase and α-glucosidase respectively. Out of 68 isolates, five isolates have shown anti-bacterial activity against all the tested organisms through dual culture method. Overall, this study strongly suggests that extracts of isolated endophytic fungi from Salacia can be developed as a potent drug molecule in the view of their pharmaceutical importance.