Fungal endophytes of Plumbago zeylanica L. enhances plumbagin content

Abstract

Background Plumbagin is one of the pharmaceutically important biomolecule with anticancer potential. Among the plants reported to produce plumbagin, P. zeylanica topped the list. The plumbagin production is very slow with low yield and maximum 0.5% (of dry weight) was reported in P. zeylanica . To meet the increasing demand of the plumbagin at global level, the P. zeylanica are exploited at commercial level, which may pose serious threat on the germplasm of the plant populations. So, it is needed to enhance the contents of plumbagin in P. zeylanica using biotechnological approaches. Among the various methods used to enhance the contents of plumbagin in P. zeylanica, utilization of fungal endophytes to enhance the plumbagin contents is a widely accepted approach. As fungal endophytes have the potential to synthesize various secondary metabolites and also reported to influence the synthesis of the secondary metabolites in plants. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess the effect of fungal endophytes of the Plumbago zeylanica L. on enhancement of plumbagin contents at in vivo level. Results Total 3 fungal endophytes were recorded from the roots of P. zeylanica collected from Khadki, Pune. The fungal endophytes were identified at morphological and molecular level. After 1 year of the treatment with fungal endophytes, significant enhancement of plumbagin was recorded in the roots of the P. zeylanica . Plumbagin contents in each were quantified against the standard plumbagin by employing LCMS-MS technique. Among the three fungal endophytes, the maximum enhancement of plumbagin content (122.67%) was reported with the treatment of Alternaria sp. (Isolate-3) in the roots of the P. zeylanica compared to control. Conclusion Among the three fungal endophytes, the maximum enhancement of plumbagin content (122.67%) was reported with Alternaria sp. (Isolate 3) in the roots of the pot-grown plants of P. zeylanica at in vivo level.

Differences and biocontrol potential of haustorial endophytic fungi from Taxillus Chinensis on different host plants

“…Endophytic fungi are fungi that live in plant tissues and have no obvious disease symptoms at a certain period of their life history. They generally colonize healthy plant tissues and organs with a wide variety of species and wide distribution [ 1 – 3 ]. Since Stierle et al first reported that an endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus breviflia was able to synthesize paclitaxel, an anticancer substance, the study of such fungi in medicinal plants has become a research hotspot [ 4 ].…”

Plumbagin induces apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and inhibits protein synthesis in LoVo colon cancer cells: A proteomic analysis

“…Plumbagin, as depicted in Figure 1, is a bioactive compound belonging to the Plumbaginaceae family. This family of plants includes Plumbago zeylinica , which has been applied safely and effectively for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to alleviate a wide range of ailments (Andhale et al, 2019). Plumbagin's anticancer properties, both in vitro and in vivo, have garnered increasing research attention (Lin et al, 2019; Yin et al, 2020).…”