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Plant–bacterial endophyte secondary metabolite matching: a case study

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Abstract

Some studies focused on metabolic relationships between plants and their endophytic bacterial associates, and more research is required to generate critical evidence for these relationships. In the current interest, we tried to confirm the relationship between the traditional medicinal plant, Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton, and its associated endophytes, Bacillus siamensis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, as the first matching study regarding the production of bioactive secondary metabolites from the plant vis-a-vis its bacterial endophytes.

Secondary metabolites of both the plant and its endophytic bacteria were extracted using different solvents, e.g., water, methanol, and ethyl acetate. All extracts exhibited high quantities of phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, and saponins. In addition, they showed significant antioxidant capacity which was found to be positively correlated with total phenolic contents. The highest total antioxidant capacity (99.28 ± 0.0 mg AA equivalent/g extract) was measured for the aqueous extract of B. siamensis.

Antibacterial activity of the different extracts was evaluated against certain pathogenic bacteria, i.e., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus agalactiae, Salmonella typhi, Serratia marcescens, and Staphylococcus aureus. It was strikingly found that the broadest antibacterial spectrum was revealed by extracts of both C. procera and its endophytic B. siamensis. Interestingly, antibacterial activity was significantly correlated to phenolic and flavonoid contents.

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Acknowledgement

We introduce our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Aswan University for supporting and providing the requirements of scientific research.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswan, 81528, Egypt

    Noura Sh. A. Hagaggi & Amal A. A. Mohamed

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  1. Noura Sh. A. Hagaggi
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  2. Amal A. A. Mohamed
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Correspondence to Noura Sh. A. Hagaggi.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Hagaggi, N.S.A., Mohamed, A.A.A. Plant–bacterial endophyte secondary metabolite matching: a case study. Arch Microbiol 202, 2679–2687 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-020-01989-7

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