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.