European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

CHARACTERIZATION OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FROM PONGAMIA PINNATA AND GLIRICIDIA SEPIUM

R. Renjimol*, G. Rajalakshmi, Dr. S. Komathi, P. S. Sumitha, Sruthi Radhakrishnan and M P. Muhammed Noufal

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants have enormous applications and more than 30% of total plant populations have been used for medicinal purposes. The medicinal plants like Pongamia pinnata and Gliricidia sepium contains a number of pharmaceutical compounds having anti-microbial, anti-tumor, wound healing properties. Combinatorial biosynthesis of these plant metabolites in microbial factories has tremendous commercial value. Endophytes are microbial populations (Bacterial, Fungal and Actinomycetes) inhabiting inside the specific plant parts such as leaves, roots, stem, flowers, cotyledons, etc. The fungal endophytes are being under research for their pigment production potential. Hence the textiles and dyeing industries were more focused on the eco-friendly dyes and dye fixatives. Other than the pigment production the fungal communities of the medicinal plants were synthesizing numerous compounds of therapeutic value. The current study focused on the isolation, identification of genera, production and identification of metabolites of endophytic fungi from Pongamia pinnata and Gliricidia sepium. This will open up a new trend in combinatorial biosynthesis as the isolation and purification of fungal metabolites is more advantageous than that of bacteria due to the post-translational modification of the metabolites.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, Pongamia pinnata, Gliricidia sepium, Endophytic fungi, Pigments, Secondary metabolites, Combinatorial biosynthesis.