Study of Antioxidant Activity and Phytochemical analysis of Endophytic Fungi Extracts from Hazel (Corylus avellana L.) plant

Diverse endophytic fungi exist within plant tissues that are valuable resources for plant growth promotion. These endophytes constitute a rich bio-resource to discover new natural products. Also, endophytic fungi have been recognized as useful sources of bioactive secondary metabolites including antibiotic, antioxidant and anticancer. This study to evaluate antioxidant activity and the phytochemical properties ethyl acetate extract of endophytic fungi from Corylus avellana L. plant. First, endophytic fungi were isolated from C. avellana plant using standard surface sterilization techniques. Ethyl acetate extracts of fungi were screened for the presence of characteristics of qualitative phytochemicals compounds and antioxidant activity. For this purpose, DPPH free radical scavenging was used to evaluate the antioxidant activity. The presence of phytochemical compounds, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannin, phenol, steroid, terpenoid, diterpene, flavanones, quinone and cumarin was also assayed qualitatively. In total, 791 isolates belonging to 24 species were isolated from the stem, leaf and root tissues. . All sequences were deposited in NCBI's GenBank Database. The qualitative analysis of phytochemical compounds showed positive results for flavonoids, alkaloids, tannin, phenols, steroids, terpenoids, diterpenes, flavanones, quinones and coumarins in most of the fungus. Species Paraphaeosphaeria sporulosa, Cladosporium herbarum, Alternaria alternate, Nothophoma quercina, Fusarium equiseti, Pleosporales sp., Neocucurbitaria unguis, Penicillium citrinum, Fusarium sp., Fusarium fujikuroi, Epicoccum nigrum, Gnomoniopsis idaeicola, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Bjerkandera adusta, Angustimassarina sp., Exophiala sp., Talaromyces amestolkiae showed the highest antioxidant activity ranging from 50% to 97%.Hazelnut plants have different fungal endophytes with several antioxidant activities. Phenoles and flavonoids were positive in all fungal extracts and are the most important phytochemical compounds in this study. Extracts with more phenoles and flavonoid contents produced more antioxidant activity. The results of this study represent that metabolites produced by endophytic fungi isolated from C. avellana plant may serve as a potential source of natural antioxidants.