Endang Sukara

Production of lepidimoide by an endophytic fungus from polysaccharide extracted from Abelmoschus sp.: identification of the product and the organism producing it

A highly potent allelopathic factor, lepidimoide, was initially extracted from mucilage of germinated cress seeds. Polysaccharide extracted from okra (Abelmoschus esculentum Moench) is considered to have a similar structure to lepidimoide as its repeating unit. We therefore initiated the screening of enzymes capable of degrading okra polysaccharide into lepidimoide from endophytes. We discovered an endophytic fungal strain AHU9748 isolated from Coleus galeatus, which produced an oligosaccharide having similar properties to lepidimoide on thin layer chromatography. The physico-chemical data from ESI-MS, NMR spectra and other analyses also showed the purified product to be identical to lepidimoide. The strain AHU9748 was identified as a fungus belonging to the coelomycetes, closely related to the genus Colletotrichum, based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the 18S rDNA and ITS region.

Diversity of Streptomyces from Eka Karya Botanical Garden, Bali

A total of 229 strains of actinomycetes were isolated and identified by full sequence of 16S rRNA gene analysis. Samples consisted of 18 soil and 20 leaf-litter were collected from Eka Karya Botanical Garden, Bali Island, Indonesia. Two isolation methods, i.e. SDS-Yeast Extract (SY) and Rehydration-Centrifugation (RC) were used in this study. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, isolated actinomycetes may be grouped into 28 genera. Based on molecular analysis of 16S rRNA gene similarities showed that isolated actinomycetes of Eka Karya Botanical Garden origin is diverse. Analysis on 144 isolates from soil samples, resulted in 24 genera and more than 87 species. Streptomyces is the most dominant genus where 65 isolates or 45 persen from isolated actinomycetes belong to this genus. It was followed by Actinoplanes (25 isolates = 17 persen). From leaf-litter samples, the total number of 85 isolates may be grouped into 9 genera and more than 41 species. The most dominated genus is Actinoplanes (42 isolates = 49 persen) followed by Catenuloplanes (16 isolates = 19 persen). Biotropia, Vol. 23 No. 1, 2016. P: 42 - 51