Antimicrobial activity of Centroceras Clavulatum Linn (red algae) associated endophytic fungal strains

Abstract

Natural products still   remain the very important source for discovery of novel and potential drug molecules, marine endophytes are of great interest as novel and rich sources of biologically active products. In the present study, we have isolated endophytic fungi RAF-I and III from red algae Centroceras clavulatum and identified as Aspergillus niger JCM strain  (RAF-I) and  Aspergillus fumigates strain (RAF-III) by the phylogenetic analysis. Fractions of RAF-I and III were screened for in-vitro and in-vivo antimicrobial activities against pathogenic bacteria, fungi and mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 RV strain. A significant anti-fungal activity was observed against Aspergillus niger (0.4 µg/ml) and Candida albicans (12.5-0.4µg/ml). RAF-I and III showed moderate activity against Bacillus subtilis (12.5-25µg/ml). Further, Chloroform fraction and ethyl acetate fraction of RAF-III have shown significant anti-TB activity against the tested   organisms with MIC of 8.5 and 10.5µg/ml respectively. The activity was further supported by in-vivo antimicrobial activity against K.Pneumonia infection in mice, which revealed least haemolytic activity against erythrocytes.