ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR IDENTFICATION OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FROM ACACIA NILOTICA

Jawed Ahmed*, Dr. Ashfaque M. Khan and Dr. M. M. Baig

ABSTRACT

In nature plant shows symbiotic relationship with some microorganisms act as undercover agents known as endophyte. Which produces potentially important bioactive compounds; these compounds have various functional roles in growth and protection of plants as per ecological niche. Medicinal plants have been recognized as a repository of fungal endophytes with novel metabolites. The present study was conducted to characterize and explore the endophytic fungi isolated from medicinal important plant Acacia nilotica of Marathwada region for the study of potential bioactive compounds. Endophytic fungi were isolated and characterized on the basis of sequence similarity using bioinformatics tool and molecular tools. Traditional methods of endophytes isolation and characterization have limitation and it is time consuming processes. Molecular identification of isolated endophytic fungi carried out using fungal specific 18S rRNA primer. Isolated endophytic fungi were show sequence similarity with Aspergillus.

Keywords: Endophytic fungi, Aspergillus sp.ZH14, Molecular identification, 18S rRNA analysis, phylogenetic tree.