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. 2017;18(2):125-137.
doi: 10.1631/jzus.B1500271.

Endophytes from medicinal plants and their potential for producing indole acetic acid, improving seed germination and mitigating oxidative stress

Abdul Latif Khan  1 , Syed Abdullah Gilani  2 , Muhammad Waqas  3   4 , Khadija Al-Hosni  1 , Salima Al-Khiziri  1 , Yoon-Ha Kim  5 , Liaqat Ali  1 , Sang-Mo Kang  1 , Sajjad Asaf  3 , Raheem Shahzad  3 , Javid Hussain  2 , In-Jung Lee  3 , Ahmed Al-Harrasi  1
Affiliations

Endophytes from medicinal plants and their potential for producing indole acetic acid, improving seed germination and mitigating oxidative stress

Abdul Latif Khan et al. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2017.

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used by marginal communities to treat various ailments. However, the potential of endophytes within these bio-prospective medicinal plants remains unknown. The present study elucidates the endophytic diversity of medicinal plants (Caralluma acutangula, Rhazya stricta, and Moringa peregrina) and the endophyte role in seed growth and oxidative stress. Various organs of medicinal plants yielded ten endophytes, which were identified as Phoma sp. (6 isolates), Alternaria sp. (2), Bipolaris sp. (1), and Cladosporium sp. (1) based on 18S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The culture filtrates (CFs; 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations) from these endophytes were tested against the growth of normal and dwarf mutant rice lines. Endophytic CF exhibited dose-dependent growth stimulation and suppression effects. CF (100%) of Phoma sp. significantly increased rice seed germination and growth compared to controls and other endophytes. This growth-promoting effect was due to the presence of indole acetic acid in endophytic CF. The gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis showed the highest indole acetic acid content ((54.31±0.21) µmol/L) in Bipolaris sp. In addition, the isolate of Bipolaris sp. exhibited significantly higher radical scavenging and anti-lipid peroxidation activity than the other isolates. Bipolaris sp. and Phoma sp. also exhibited significantly higher flavonoid and phenolic contents. The medicinal plants exhibited the presence of bio-prospective endophytic strains, which could be used for the improvement of crop growth and the mitigation of oxidative stresses.

Keywords: Fungal endophytes; Diversity; Medicinal plants; Antioxidants; Indole acetic acid.

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Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with ethics guidelines: Wen-xu LI, San-ling WU, Yan-hua LIU, Gu-lei JIN, Hai-jun ZHAO, Long-jiang FAN, and Qing-yao SHU declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
IAA production by the isolated endophytes in their growing culture medium The bars represent the standard error of the mean. The different letter(s) depicts a significant (P<0.05) difference with respect to each other as evaluated by DMRT analysis. The IAA results are based on the 50 ml growth medium of the endophytes
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Potential of fungal endophytes in scavenging radicals and avoiding oxidative stress The bars represents the standard error of the mean. The different letter(s) depicts a significant (P<0.05) difference with respect to each other as evaluated by DMRT analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Flavonoid and phenolic contents of endophytic fungal strains The bars represent the standard error of the mean. The different letter(s) shows a significant (P<0.05) difference with respect to each other as evaluated by DMRT analysis. The results are based on the 50 ml growth medium of the endophytes and correlative to cathachol (CE) and gallic acid equivalent (GAE) for flavonoid and phenolic, respectively
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Molecular phylogenetic analysis of fungal strains by maximum likelihood method Sebacina vermifera K6619C1 was taken as an outgroup
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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