Antimicrobial and Phytochemical Screening of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Melastoma malabathricum

Abstract

The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens have also made it the ultimate quest of countries throughout the world to find out new antimicrobial agents. Endophytic fungi are asymptomatic fungi that grow in the interior of plants and have further emerged to be rich sources of bioactive secondary molecules. Melastoma malabathricum is a common medicinal plant, used in traditional Southeast-Asian medicine, which offers a prospective home of endophytic fungi, which might possess antimicrobial activity. This study aims to isolate endophytic fungus utilizing M. malabathricum leaves and estimate the antimicrobial activity and phytochemical composition, which could be a clue to natural materials to fight antibiotic resistance.