ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THE ENDOPHYTIC FUNGUS Coriolopsis sp. FROM Aconitum seravschanicum
Abstract
The fungal isolate S74 was identified as Coriolopsis sp. (family Polyporaceae) using whole-genome phylogenetic analysis. The strain was cultivated in potato dextrose broth for 21 days, and the resulting culture was extracted with ethyl acetate. The antimicrobial activity of the extract at a concentration of 20 mg/mL was evaluated by the agar disk-diffusion method against four bacterial species, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as well as the yeast Candida albicans. Ampicillin/sulbactam, gentamicin, and fluconazole were used as reference antimicrobial agents. All experiments were performed in triplicate, and the results were expressed as mean ± standard error. The ethyl acetate extract demonstrated antibacterial activity against all four tested bacterial strains, whereas no inhibitory effect was observed against C. albicans. The strongest antibacterial activity was detected against P. aeruginosa, with an inhibition zone of 15.0 ± 0.36 mm. The extract also showed pronounced activity against B. subtilis (14.0 ± 0.20 mm) and S. aureus (14.0 ± 0.14 mm), while only weak inhibition was observed against E. coli (7.0 ± 0.22 mm). Compared with the reference antimicrobial agents, the inhibition zone produced by the fungal extract against P. aeruginosa corresponded to 60.0% of that observed for gentamicin, while its activity against S. aureus corresponded to 63.6% of the ampicillin/sulbactam inhibition zone. These findings demonstrate that the endophytic fungus Coriolopsis sp. isolated from A. seravschanicum produces extracellular metabolites with broad-spectrum antibacterial potential. The particularly pronounced activity against P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, and S. aureus indicates that isolate S74 represents a promising candidate for further natural-product investigation. Mechanisms of antimicrobial action, chromatographic fractionation and chemical characterization of the active extract are currently in progress to identify the metabolites responsible for the observed antibacterial activity.
Publication Details
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.