Isolation and Molecular identification of Endophytic fungi from Michelia champaca Linn. and screening for its Extracellular Enzyme Production

Abstract

Fungal endophytes are the group of microorganisms that occupy parts and colonize living, internal tissues of plants without causing any immediate, negative effect or noticeable injury to the host. In this study, fungal endophytes were targeted for isolation from young and healthy leaves of Michelia champaca Linn. from Guwahati region, Assam. The colony morphology was screened for observation of spores/ conidia or fruiting bodies under light compound microscope after staining. The endophyte was screened for the presence of various enzymatic activities like Amylolytic, Lipolytic, Cellulolytic, Proteolytic and catalase activity. Results showed that the isolated endophyte was a potential source of amylolytic, cellulolytic and Lipolytic activities whereas it showed negative result for catalase and proteolytic activities. It was further characterized using 1, 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene ITS sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The molecular characterization identified it as Cladosporium pseudocladosporioides. Hence, this study showed that fungal isolate from M. champaca could be a potential source for enzymes with biological activities.