Isolation and Identification of Bacterial and Fungal Endophytes from Selected Plants of Western Himalayas in Prospect for Bioactivities of Economic Importance

Medicinal plants have been used as holistic therapies to support human health and wellbeing all over the world. Moreover, these plants also act as a potential host to beneficial microorganisms including bacteria and fungi (endophytes) which are considered as the most prospective source of bioactive compounds and are of immense importance to a wide range of areas like medicine, agriculture and industry. In the present study bacterial and fungal endophytes were isolated from the leaf, stem and bark explants of medicinal plants viz. Withania somnifera, Taxus wallichiana and Murraya koenigii. A total of 20 fungal and 20 bacterial endophytes were isolated from these plants and evaluated for various biological activities like enzymatic, antimicrobial, and antioxidant. The screened endophytic bacterial and fungal isolates have the potential to be used as a source of novel bioactive compounds, biopesticides, and biofertilizers in the future. The isolated endophytes were identified based on molecular tools and morphological analysis and the results confirmed the prevalence of Penicillium and Alternaria genera in the case of fungal endophytes and for bacterial endophytes, the dominant genera was found to be Bacillus.