Antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi isolated and identified from salt marsh plant in Vellar Estuary

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of endophytic fungi isolated from leaves and stems of Suaeda maritima and Suaeda monoica. Many endophytes were isolated by using potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. All the endophytic isolates were identified by using standard taxonomic keys and monographs. From a total of 16 isolates, nine potent strains were taken for further study. The fungal culture was extracted with ethyl acetate and used as a crude extract for checking antimicrobial activities by well diffusion method. The crude extract showed different inhibitory activity against all pathogens, the zones of inhibition obtained was between 2 and 12 mm. SM-EF 3 crude extract showed high zone of inhibition of 11.6±0.57 mm against Salmonella typhi, 8.3±1.52 mm against Trichophyton rubrum, respectively. The present findings concludes that SM-EF 3, SM-EF 7 and SM-EF 9 showed comparatively higher antimicrobial activity against all the human pathogens. From the present work, it is possible to conclude that these microorganisms could be promising source of bioactive compounds and warrant further study.   Key words: Endophytic fungi, antimicrobial activity, salt marsh plant, secondary metabolite.