Bioactive potential and GC-MS fingerprinting of extracts from endophytic fungi associated with seeds of some medicinal plants

Endophytic fungi are a group of host-associated fungal communities that benefit their hosts. According to the conditions of their specific living environment, plant endophytic fungi produce many bioactive metabolites with different structural features. The bioactive compounds isolated from endophytic fungi, have significant effects on increasing the compatibility of both endophytic fungi and their host plants, such as the tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, some of these metabolites have indicated medicinal and ecological importance. In the present investigation, five fungal endophytes were isolated from the seeds of some medicinal plants. These endophytic isolates were characterized by sequencing of Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions as Acremonium sp. isolated from Echium amoenum, Epicoccum nigrum from Rosa canina, Fusarium sp. and Fusarium equiseti from Calendula officinalis and Lecanicillium aphanocladii from Physalis peruviana. To screen the phytochemical derivatives of ethyl acetate of these endophytic fungal isolates, the extracts were subjected to phytochemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). GC-MS spectrum of the compounds found in the extracts of the endophytic fungi was matched with the standard compounds present in the WILEY8 library and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST14) library. The GC-MS analysis of extracts from these endophytic fungi revealed the presence of 49 phytocompounds such as 2,4-Di-tert-butylphenol, Hexadecane, Eicosane, Octadecane, Docosane, Nonadecane, Isopropyl myristate, Hexadecanoic acid, Undecane, Methyl stearate and so on. The results of the present study acknowledge that the endophytic fungi of these medicinal plants are the potential source of biologically active compounds and envisage the possible drug discovery using them. In addition, the compounds 14-Beta-H-Pregna and Cyclohexane,1,1'-(2-methyl-1,3-propanediyl) bis are reported here for the first time as fungal metabolites.