Chemical and antimicrobial evaluations of a culture of Phoma sp., an endophytic fungus isolated from Rhizophora racemosa.

Abstract

Inner tissues of the aerial roots of the mangrove medicinal plant Rhizophora racemosa were subjected to standard fungal isolation techniques, leading to the isolation and subsequent large-batch culturing of an endophytic coelomycetous fungal morphotype, identified as Phoma sp. Extracts of the culture were obtained after a 14-day fermentation period, subjected to chemical evaluation using standard phytochemical methods and antimicrobial evaluation by agar diffusion techniques. Extracts of the fungal culture demonstrated broad spectrum antibacterial activities against Gram positive and Gram negative organisms and were found to be rich in diverse bioactive chemical groups including alkaloids, tannins, saponins and cardiac glycosides. A Phoma sp. is thus, herein, reported as the first from the endophytic community of Rhizophora racemosa and its culture recommended as a veritable lead source for the discovery of new broad spectrum antibacterial drugs and other therapeutic agents.