Antimicrobial Activities and GC-MS Analysis of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Pluchea dioscoridis and Withania somnifera Medicinal Plants

Twenty three genera (46 species and 2 species variety) of endophytic fungi were isolated and identified from the leaves of Pluchea dioscoridis and Withania somnifera on GPY agar medium at 28°C. Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Setosphaeria were the most common genera isolated from P. dioscoridis and W. somnifera. The extracts of isolated endophytic fungi were tested for antimicrobial activities against nine strains of pathogenic bacteria and seven isolates of phytopathogenic fungi by disc diffusion method. Extracts of endophytic fungal showed antibacterial activity by different degrees ranged between highly, moderate, narrow, weak and non-active but, didn’t had effect on tested fungal isolates. Alternaria alternata and Microascus trigonosporus were chosen from the most potent antibacterial fungi to determine the antibacterial ingredients by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis from which seventeen and twenty nine compounds were identified, respectively.