<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-US">Diversity and antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi isolated from <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-US">the seagrass <i>Enhalus acoroides</i> </span></span>

Abstract

Endophytic fungi were isolated from the seagrass, <i>Enhalus acoroides</i>, collected from Trang province, Thailand. Forty-seven endophytic isolates cultured were classified into 17 phylogenetically diverse genera based on their morphology and molecular analysis of the ITS regions of the rDNA. Most common species were <i>Penicillium </i>(6 isolates), <i>Nigrospora</i>

(5), and <i>Fusarium </i>(4) and 2 with unknown taxonomic affinity. Crude extracts including culture media and cells of all isolates were tested for their antimicrobial activities using a colorimetric broth microdilution method against ten potential human pathogens. Extracts from 38 isolates (80.85%) showed antimicrobial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 4 to 200 μg mL^-1. <i>Nigrospora </i>sp. PSU-ES5 produced the most active extracts against <i>Microsporum gypseum </i>(MIC 4 to 8 μg mL^-1). Endophytic fungi from seagrasses such as <i>E. acoroides </i>could therefore be a good source for obtaining antimicrobial natural products.