Bioprospecting Endophytic Fungi Inhabiting Indian Medicinal Plants

The present study investigates antimycotic potential of endophytic fungi towards economically relevant plant pathogenic organisms, viz.Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorumandBotrytis cinerea. Plant-derived by-products such as saponins and essential oils are considered as effective antifungal agents. Therefore, essential-oil-producing plants, viz.Ocimum sanctumandMentha piperita, and saponin-producing plants, viz.Asparagus racemosusandChlorophytum borivilianum, were selected as host plants. Bioactive secondary metabolites identified by GC-MS analysis, i.e. 6-pentyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyran-2-one and methyl hexadecanoic acid, demonstrated strong antimycotic activity towardsF.oxysporumand S.sclerotiorumhaving IC(50)value of 0.662 ppm and 1.002 ppm, respectively. Sulphamethazine was recognised as potent antifungal metabolite in bioactive fraction ofAcremoniumsp. through UPLC-MS/MS dereplication.