ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FROM COFFEE PLANTS

Endophytic fungi are a promising source for discovery of compounds with biotechnological potential. The aim of this study was to select and identify endophytic fungi from Coffea arabica that produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), evaluate the effect of the VOCs produced by endophytic fungi on the growth of Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Phoma sp., Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium solani, Fusarium verticillioides, Cercospora coffeicola and Pestalotia longisetula, and select endophytic fungi with potential for biological control of Aspergillus ochraceus inoculated in coffee beans and F. verticillioides inoculated in corn seeds. An isolate of Muscodor albus was used as selection tool for VOC producing fungi. Among the 400 endophytic fungi isolates, 11 were able to grow in the presence of VOCs produced by M. albus. These fungi were identified as Muscodor spp. (9) and Simplicillium sp. according to searches in UNITE database using DNA sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The VOC's produced by endophytic fungi inhibited the growth the phytopathogenic fungi with different efficacies, compared to the control. The VOCs produced by Muscodor coffeanum (COAD 1842) showed fungicidal effect against A. ochraceus on coffee beans. Six endophytic fungi completely inhibited growth of F. verticillioides inoculated in corn seeds. This study demonstrates that the volatile-compound producing endophytic fungi, isolated from Coffea arabica, are promising sources of bioactive compounds.