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DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273540
Antifungal and Insecticidal Activity of Endophytic Fungi Associated with the American Medicinal Plant Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. (Asteraceae)
Fungal endophytes associated with leaves, lateral shoots, and roots of Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae), a medicinal plant used by Native Americans, were evaluated for antifungal activity. Four different bioactive specimens of E. purpurea plants, grown by Solid State Fermentation technique at the University of Mississippi Field Station greenhouse led to a total of 39 fungi isolates. These were identified morphologically and by sequence analysis of the ITS region of the rRNA genes to determine their phylogenetic affinities. The 39 crude extracts from the isolates were screened for antifungal activity against the plant pathogen's targets Colletotrichum fragariae, C. gloeosporioides, and C. acutatum. Eleven endophytic taxa represented by species of the genera Ceratobasidium, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Glomerella, Mycoleptodiscus, and one taxa of order Pleosporales were identified. The most abundant taxa isolated from these plants were Cladosporium cladosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. A total of 16 extracts (41%) showed antifungal activities against at least one phytopathogenic target; among them, seven were strongly active against C. acutatum, six against C. fragariae, and eight against C. gloeosporioides. Therefore, the fungal assemblage recovered from E. purpurea is a promising source of molecules with antifungal activities. These results open perspectives to discover new bioactive fungal communities of Echinacea species. Isolated active constituents produced by endophytic fungi could be used to develop new environmentally friendly pesticides against worldwide phytopathogenic fungi.