Abstract
Alarming increase in microbial resistance to existing synthetic commercial antibiotics forced scientists to search for new antimicrobials from various alternative sources. The present study carried out during the year 2014-2015, presents the antimicrobial potential of some mushroom extracts against some commonly found pathogenic bacterial and fungal microbes. During the study four mushroom species, viz. Lentinus tigrinus (Bull.) Fr., Fomitopsis pinicola (Sw.) P.Karst, Inonotus hispidus (Bull.) P.Karst and Ramaria formosa (Pers.) Quel. were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus), gram negative (Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungi (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus fumigates). The results revealed that ethyl acetate and methanolic extract of all the mushroom extracts showed significant antimicrobial activity against most of the bacterial and fungal microbes. However, the aqueous extract of these mushrooms was found either lacking or conferring insignificant antimicrobial activity. The ethyl acetate extracts of Ramaria formosa and Lentinus tigrinus produced more promising results against the bacterial microbes than fungal counterparts. Both ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of Fomitopsis pinicola and Inonotus hispidus exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against the selected set of microbes. The antibacterial and antifungal activity exhibited by Fomitopsis pinicola at the concentration 150mg/ml was almost parallel to 10µg gentamycin and 50µg nystatin respectively. Therefore, Fomitopsis pinicola signifies as one of the promising mushroom species possessing strong antimicrobial activity against broad spectrum of microbes.
Highlights
Mushrooms have been appreciated by man since the times immemorial for their flavor, deliciousness and nutritive excellence but for their medicinal attributes [1]
It was observed that the antimicrobial activity of these mushroom species against the given selected pathogenic bacteria and fungal strains varies with the nature of the solvent
The assessment of the antimicrobial potential of ethyl acetate extract of Lentinus tigrinus at different concentrations revealed that there was a considerable increase in the zone of inhibition subsequent to the increase in the concentration of extract (Table 4). It is quite evident from the results that the extract showed the highest activity against Bacillus subtilis followed by Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, while the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae was least inhibited
Summary
Mushrooms have been appreciated by man since the times immemorial for their flavor, deliciousness and nutritive excellence but for their medicinal attributes [1]. They are the subject of interest for many ethnobotanists and medical researchers. As a matter of fact, mushrooms need antibacterial and antifungal compounds to survive at ease in their natural environment in order to combat the attack of pathogenic microbes. This property of mushrooms can prove handy to be exploited for human welfare. It has been found that nearly 75% of tested polypore mushrooms possess antimicrobial activity [11]
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