Molecular Identification of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Medicinal Plant

Endophytes are microorganisms that colonize the tissues of live host plants usually showing no apparent symptoms. These endophytes, both bacteria and fungus, can produce a variety of secondary metabolites having a wide range of essential properties. Thus, they can be used for various medicinal, environmental and agronomic purposes. Argemone mexicana, a plant of the family Papaveraceae is widespread across India, and blooms in the month of March. The study was carried out to isolate endophytic fungus living in the shoot and root areas of A. mexicana from Northeast India, and to identify and characterize these endophytes. A total of 20 types of fungal species were isolated from both the root and shoot parts of the plant. Endophytes were identified by 18SrDNA sequencing using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Genomic DNA was isolated using Cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide method of the endophytes. The endophytic fungi were identified as belonging to Aspergillus and Penicillium sps by using sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region and Basic local alignment search tool. Aspergillus oryzaem A. niger, and A. flavus showed 100% relative abundance in root and shoot. A. versicolor, A. sydowii, Penicillium chrysogenum were found in root only and A. striatus, A. tubingensis, Emericella qinqixianii and E. striata were found in the shoot of A. mexicana.