Griseofulvin Producing Endophytic Nigrospora Oryzae from Indian Emblica Officinalis Gaertn: a New Report

Emblica officinalis (Amla) is widely used medicinal plant and is believed to increase defence against various types of diseases. E. officinalis harbours a range of endophytes responsible for synthesis of bioactive compounds. We screened endophytic fungi isolated from E. officinalis for their antimicrobial activity. During screening we found that a griseofulvin-producing endophytic fungus (Nigrospora oryzae) which is active against human pathogenic microbes. Nigrospora oryzae (DBT-150) was isolated and identified based on the morphology and ITS-rDNA sequence comparison. The presence of Griseofulvin was confirmed by standard spectra of Griseofulvin available in Mass Spectroscopy instrument. Griseofulvin is a non-toxic antifungal drug derived from several species of Penicillium. In the present study, these active compounds demonstrated activity against human pathogenic bacteria and fungi. This is a first report of Griseofulvin producing endophytic Nigrospora oryzae isolated from E. officinalis.