Antimicrobial activity and metabolite profiling of endophytic fungi in (Lam) Roem. and Schult. and (Retz.) A. Camus.

Endophytic fungal occurrences were studied in aerial regions of and by three isolation methods: potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt extract agar (MEA), and moist blotters. Seventy species of 29 genera of endophytic fungi in and 71 species of 30 genera in were documented. Endophytic fungal communities were grouped into 40 and 43 anamorphic ascomycetes (21 and 23 genera) and 20 teleomorphic ascomycetes (6 and 7 genera) in and respectively. PDA supported the expression of larger number of fungal communities than MEA and MB; and hosted more number of endophytic fungi than . Seasons played an important role in supporting the assemblage of fungal endophytes. Endophytic fungal species richness and assemblages in plant regions were determined for alpha, beta, and gamma diversities. The ethyl acetate followed by methanolic extracts of certain fungal species showed good antagonistic and antibacterial activities. Among fungal endophytes, and exhibited high antagonistic and antibacterial activities. The high-resolution orbitrap liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry of ethyl acetate crude extracts of and revealed the presence of antifungal and antimicrobial, besides a host of compounds in the extracts. The present study indicated that grass endophytes are the sources of compounds with antimicrobial and other pharmacological activities.