Bioprospecting Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Cephalotaxus mannii Hook f. as Prolific Sources of Antibacterial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Agents

• Published in: Microbiology (New York) Vol. 92; no. 2; pp. 284 - 292
• Main Authors: Vu, T. H. N., Quach, N. T., Le, P. C., Pham, Q. A., Do, T. T., Chu, H. H., Phi, Q. T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-04-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Antibacterial activity; Antioxidants; Antitumor agents; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bioprospecting; Cancer; Cephalotaxus; Cytotoxicity; Endophytes; Ethyl acetate; Experimental Articles; Flavonoids; Free radicals; Fungi; Fusarium; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Medicinal plants; Microbiology; Paclitaxel; Polyphenols; Superoxide anions; Tumor cell lines; paclitaxel; antioxidant; antibacterial; gene; endophytic fungi; cytotoxicity
• ISSN: 0026-2617; 1608-3237
• DOI: 10.1134/S0026261722602834

Cephalotaxus mannii
Hook f. is a rare medicinal plant used for leukemia treatment, however its fungal endophytes as a promising resource of pharmaceutical compounds remain poorly characterized. The present study is the first research on endophytic fungi associated with
C. mannii
collected in Vietnam and their potent biological activities. A total of 18 endophytic fungi were isolated; according to the results of morphological and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analyses, they belonged to six genera:
Penicillium
,
Fusarium, Aspergillus, Diaporthe, Megasporoporia
, and
Trichoderma
. Among these strains, the ethyl acetate extracts of
Penicillium citrinum
WDF8 and
Fusarium perseae
WDF12 showed remarkable antibacterial activity against at least 5 tested bacteria. Of note, only the WDF12 extract displayed potential cytotoxicity against A549 and MCF7 cancer cell lines with IC
50
values at 13.4 ± 0.9 and 17.8 ± 2 µg/mL, respectively. Further cytotoxicity evaluation led to the identification of 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-O-acetyl transferase (
dbat
) gene essential for the biosynthesis of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel in the fungal strain WDF8. Both extracts also showed strong antioxidant activity against DPPH, hydroxyl, and superoxide anion radicals, attributed to a high level of polyphenols and flavonoids present. This study proved that endophytic fungi from
C. mannii
exhibit excellent antibacterial, anticancer, and antioxidant activities and may be promising candidates for the production of paclitaxel and new compounds.