Abstract

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS, IN VITRO ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AND MODE OF ACTION OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF MARCHANTIA LINEARIS LEHM & LINDENB. A BRYOPHYTE

Murugan, K. * and Remya Krishnan

*Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Botany, UniversityCollege, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695 034,  India.

ABSTRACT

have been used traditionally for treating various skin disorders and injuries. They possess a pool of bioactive compounds with pharmacological activity. But this group was poorly documented in screening phytochemicals compared to flowering plants. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the in vitro antifungal activities of ethanolic extract of Marchantia linearis Lehm & Lindenb. and their mode of action. Hot continuous soxhlet extraction, RP-HPLC and HPLC-PAD, antifungal analysis by disc diffusion, microdilution assay, electron microscopy and isolation and assay of β-glucosidase, pectin lyase and protease. Screening the phenols and flavonoids, revealed the presence of phenolic acids such as vanillate, gallate, coumarate, cinnamate, ferulate, para catechol, sinapate, hydroxybenzoate, chlorogenate and the flavonoids such as quercetin, luteolin and apigenin. Ethanolic extract exerted a potent fungicidal activity against Candida albicans, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum capsici, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum providing varied levels of growth inhibition with different concentrations. Minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum fungicidal concentrations showed varied response against the pathogen tested. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy examinations visualized changes like alteration in hyphal morphology and cell structure suggesting the fungistatic nature of the extract. Significant inhibition on the growth of the tested fungi and their hydrolytic enzymes, β-glucosidase, pectin lyase and protease suggest the multisite mechanism of action. The antifungal effects of the studied plant extract recommend them as potent candidate for the in vivo biological control.

Keywords: Antifungal activity, Hydrolytic enzymes, Marchantia linearis, Phytochemical, Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy.