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Antimicrobial activity from the extracts of fungal isolates of soil 287
to lipophilic compounds; the Gram-positive bacteria, on the
other hand, will be more susceptible as they have only an
outer peptidoglycan layer which is not an effective perme-
ability barrier [24].
In our study, among the 42 short-listed isolates (Tables 1
and 2) exhibiting antimicrobial activity, the culture ltrates
of about 32 isolates belonging to the genus Aspergillus and
one Fusarium isolate (KZR 069) showed a wide spectrum of
antimicrobial activity, which supports the observations that
fungal genera like Acremonium, Aspergilllus, Fusarium and
Penicillium are considered as creative species based on
their ability to produce several bioactive metabolites [5].
Similarly, several secondary metabolites from a marine iso-
late, Aspergilllus niger exhibited diverse antibacterial and
antifungal potential [1]. In our study, we observed two
species of Curvularia (KZR 009 and KZR 059) and one Aur-
eobasidium pullulans (KZR 006) showed antimicrobial activ-
ity. Similarly, in some earlier studies, 4-epiradicinol
produced by Curvularia lunata [32], aureobasidins produced
by Aureobasidium pullulans [30] and botryodiplodin pro-
duced by Lasiodiplodia theobromae (the synonym of Botryo-
diplodia theobromae) [26] are reported to exhibit
antimicrobial activity. To the best of our knowledge there
are no reports on Scopulariopsis and Phoma exhibiting anti-
microbial activity. Our investigation suggests that bioactive
fungal constituents are possibly a rich source of novel meta-
bolites with antimicrobial activity. The broad-spectrum
activity exhibited by some of the isolates is possibly due
to the production of diverse antimicrobial compounds, which
may represent a potential for pharmaceutical and/or agri-
cultural applications. Further investigations on purication
and structure elucidation of the compounds are in progress.
To the best of our knowledge this is a rst study on the
antimicrobial activity of fungal isolates from Kaziranga
National Park biosphere of India.
Conict of Interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Dr. T.C. Bora, Scientist, NEIST,
Jorhat and Mr. Dharnidhar Boro, Forest Range Ofcer, Kazir-
anga National Park, for their help and providing the necessary
logistics during the expedition of sample collection in Kazir-
anga National Park, Assam, India. The authors are also thank-
ful to Prof. V. Lakshmipati for his kind help in providing
editing, and valuable comments during the preparation of
the manuscript. The nancial support extended by Council
of Scientic and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi,
Government of India in the form of a Network Project on
Exploitation of Microbial Wealth of India is gratefully
acknowledged.
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Antimicrobial activity from the extracts of fungal isolates of soil 289