Abstract

RIBEIRO-GOMES, Maria Francineide et al. Diversity and antibacterial activity of endophytic fungi of the Amazonian medicinal plant sucuba [Himatanthus sucuuba (Spruce ex Müll. Arg.) Woodson]. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2022, vol.46, n.178, pp.217-232.  Epub Sep 10, 2023. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.1525.

The Amazonian medicinal plant sucuba (Himatanthus sucuuba) is widely used in ethnopharmacology and has pharmacological potential. Its endophytic fungi also have important bioactive substances of interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Despite this, there are no studies in the literature about its endophytic microorganisms. In this context, this work aimed to describe endophytic fungi of H. sucuuba and evaluate the antibacterial potential of its secondary metabolites against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. We isolated leaves and stem material using the culture media potato-dextrose-agar (PDA) and Sabouraud-dextrose-agar (SDA) with or without 10 % of plant extract and then incubated at 18°C or 28°C. The isolated fungi were analyzed for macromorphological characteristics and classified into morphospecies for micromorphological characterization and production of fungal extracts. The fungi were grouped into 259 morphospecies, 135 (52.12%) were identified at the genus level, and 16 different genera were described. Endophytic fungi were most frequently isolated from H. sucuuba leaf (341 fungi) in the SDA culture medium at 28°C. H. sucuuba showed high diversity with a Shannon index of 5.26, a Simpson's diversity (D) index of 0.99, and an evenness index of 0.83. Of the 235 fungal extracts tested, 28 (12%) inhibited the growth of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. S. pneumoniae and E. coli were the most sensitive and K. pneumoniae the most resistant. This is the first report of studies with endophytic fungi from H. sucuuba indicating their potential for the production of antibacterial substances.

Keywords : Antibiotics; Bioprospecting; Sucuba; Endophytic diversity.

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