Antifungul activitiy of endophytes isolated from Rhabdosciadium aucheri against some human and plant pathogenic fungi

Rhabdosciadium aucheri Boiss belongs to the Apiaceae family, and is an exclusive species of Iran that grows in Hamedan, Lorestan, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, Kohkiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad, and Tehran provinces. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of endophytic fungi isolated from R. aucheri on human and plant pathogenic fungi.

 In this observational and laboratory study, fungi were cultured on a PDA medium. The effect of endophytic fungi isolated from R. aucheri (Alternaria rosae K11, Alternaria radicina K2, Alternaria radicina K18, A. radicina K21, and Paraphoma radicana K23) on human (Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Pseudallescheria boydii) and plant (Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) pathogenic fungi was investigated by the cross-culture method in the form of randomized complete block design with three repetitions. The obtained results were analyzed using SPSS software and compared with Duncan's test.

The results of the present study showed that the endophytes isolated from R. aucheri have significant antimicrobial effects against some plant and human pathogenic fungi (P<0.01), so that Alternaria radicina 2(K21) and Alternaria rosae K11 had the highest antifungal activity against Candida glabrata and Aspergillus flavus, respectively. The effect of Alternaria radicina against Fusarium oxysporum with 15% showed the growth rate of this endophyte against plant pathogenic fungi. In addition for the the effect of A. radicina 2(K2) against Rhizoctonia solani, the inhibition percentage was 70%.

The present study showed that endophytes isolated from the R. aucheri plant have potential antimicrobial effects against some plant and human pathogenic fungi. However, investigating the inhibitory effects of these endophytes requires further research.
Keywords: Endophyte, Secondary metabolite, Fungi, Rhabdosciadium aucheri, Microorganism