Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the antimicrobial potential of fraction of the fungus Fusarium sp. and study the tentative identification of their active constituents. Methods: Six compounds were purified from an fraction of endophytic fungus Fusarium sp. using column chromatography and their structures have been confirmed based on 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, 2D COSY, heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation experiments. The six isolated compounds were screened for antimicrobial activity using the agar well diffusion method. Results: Phytochemical investigation of endophytic fungus Fusarium sp. lead to the isolation and identification of the following compounds viz., colletorin B, colletochlorin B, LL-Z1272β (llicicolin B), 4,5-dihydroascochlorin, ascochlorin, and 4,5-dihydrodechloroascochlorin. Colletorin B and colletochlorin B displayed moderate herbicidal, antifungal and antibacterial activities towards Chlorella fusca, Ustilago violacea, Fusarium oxysporum, and Bacillus megaterium. On the other hand LL-Z1272β (llicicolin B) showed moderate antifungal activity towards Ustilago violacea and Fusarium oxysporum while 4,5-dihydroascochlorin showed strong antibacterial activity towards Bacillus megaterium. Furthermore, 4,5-dihydrodechloroascochlorin showed very strong antifungal activity towards Eurotium repens. Conclusions: Antimicrobial activities demonstrated by five of the six isolated compounds clearly demonstrate that these fungi extracts and active compounds present a great potential for the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Authors and Affiliations