An assemblages of fungal endophytes isolated from medicinal plants collected from Toba and Samosir, North Sumatra

Endophytic fungi are a group of microorganisms that grow in plant tissue without causing symptoms of disease in host plants. Fungal endophytes have a great diversity and potential as an agent of bioactive compound and metabolites that are important in the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, and environment. In this study isolation and identification of fungal endophytes inhabiting an assemblages of medicinal plants collected from Toba and Samosir Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia were carried out. Fungal endophytes were isolated using surface sterilization methods with slightly modification and totally 88 selected endophytic fungal strains were isolated from roots, stems, barks, leaves, and fruits of 12 species of medicinal plants. The fungal strains identification through morphological observation showed that selected fungal endophytes were associated with host plant belonging to the taxa Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Lasiodiplodia, Neopestalotiopsis, Phoma, Phomopsis, Phyllosticta, Schizophyllum, Trichoderma, and Xylaria. In this study endophytic Phomopsis dominating the obtained strains where 30% (27/88) strains of them were isolated from 8 species of medicinal host plants. Preliminary exploration of fungal endophytes through isolation and identification was the first step in order to discover the potential strains were able to produce promising metabolites and bioactive materials. The results of the study are expected to be initial microbial resources and information for screening and utilization of endophytic fungi through bioprospecting.