ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES IN ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI ISOLATED FROM CELASTRUS PANICULATUS

Celastrus paniculatus Willd (Celastraceae) is a rich source of alkaloids and triterpenoids. It is mainly used as aphrodisiac, brain tonic and is effective in leprosy, leucoderma and paralysis. Plant tissue culture technology is studied for the production of secondary metabolites from Celastrus paniculatus. Callus cultures were established from leaf explants on Murashige & Skoog (MS) media supplemented with sucrose (3%) and incubation was carried out at 25 ± 2o C under photoperiod of 16 h. Total of ten endophytic fungi were isolated from the plant. The fungi were isolated by incubating the plant material on potato dextrose agar supplemented with streptomycin (250 mg/l) at 27o C. The fungal strains were identified by studying their morphological and microscopical characters. The fungi were fermented and extracted with ethylacetate and acetone and screened for antimicrobial activity. Different bioactivities were found to be present in different taxa. Total ten strains of endophytic fungi were tested for antimicrobial activity out of which 7 strains showed antimicrobial spectra while remaining strains were inactive.