Evaluation of nematicidal potential of endophytic fungi associated with healthy plants and GC-MS profiling of metabolites of endophytic Fusarium solani

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are now recognized as an excellent source of widely occurring natural products. Fungi are wonderful producers of natural products, mostly secondary metabolites. The vital use of these fungi may provide benefit to current demand for novel biomolecules in agriculture, medical and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, endophytic fungi Aspergillus terreus, Cephalosporium sp., Chaetomium sp., Curvularia lunata, Curvularia hawaiiensis, Macrophomina phaseolina, Fusarium solani, Talaromyces assiutensis and Talaromyces trachyspermus isolated from healthy plants and evaluated for nematicidal activity against Meloidogyne javanica, a root-knot nematode. In vitro culture filtrates of these fungi showed strong nematicidal activity by killing juveniles of nematode to varying degree, where F.solani caused 100% mortality after 48 hours. n- Hexane fraction of culture filtrate and n-hexane extract of mycelium of F. solani were subjected to GC-MS analysis, resulted in the identification of several compounds and some are not reported before from this fungus. Metabolites from endophytic F. solani could be used in the development of antimicrobial agents that can be used in medicine or agrochemicals. The use of fungal based products offers a unique opportunity to discover novel therapeutic agents to combat various infectious agents and agricultural pests.