Extracellular resveratrol producing endophytic fungus, Quambalaria cyanescens
Vineet Meshram, Neha Kapoor, Vagish Dwibedi, Anugya Srivastava, Sanjai Saxena
Abstract
A fungal endophyte of Vitis vinifera, Quambalaria cyanescens is shown to produce high amount of resveratrol, a well-known anti-cancer agent in culture media. The ethyl acetate extract of the crude culture filtrate yielded 240 mg of which 40 mg of purified Resveratrol was recovered. The endophyte is first of its kind to be reported from Vitis vinifera, and was identified by taxonomic and molecular phylogenetic methods. The fungal resveratrol exhibited a potent cytotoxic activity against A549, with 82% reduction in the cell count. It also exhibited a potent anti-oxidant activity with 83% radical scavenging activity. Further, the fungal resveratrol from Q. cyanescens also exhibited a potent activity against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, this endophytic Quambalaria cyanescens holds a promise for development into a commercial strain for fermentative production of resveratrol.