Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the endophytic fungi from medicinal herb Trillium tschonoskii

Abstract

Fourteen distinct endophytic fungal isolates were first separated from the healthy underground parts of Trillium
tschonoskii, which is a traditional medicinal herb mainly distributed in China. They were taxonomically identified
by morphological traits and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA gene sequence analysis. Seven genera,
namely, Acremonium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Leptodontidium, Paraconiothyrium, Plectosphaerella, and
Volutella, were identified on the basis of their morphological characterizations. Their ITS-rDNA sequences were
compared with those available in the GenBank database to obtain the closest related species by BLAST analysis.
A modified thin layer chromatography-bioautography assay was used to detect the antibacterial activity of the nbutanol extracts of the mycelia and culture filtrates of the isolates. Most of the fungal isolates were screened to
have antibacterial activity, and antibacterial components were examined to mainly exist in the filtrate except
isolates Trtsf09 and Trtsf14. Five isolates, that is, Trtsf05, Trtsf06, Trtsf11, Trts12 and Trts13, were also screened
to have antioxidant activity. The endophytic fungi isolated from T. tschonoskii could be an alternative source to
produce antibacterial and antioxidant agents.