Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF INDIAN LICHEN (USNEA SPS. AND PARMOTREMA SPS.) AGAINST HUMAN PATHOGENIC BACTERIAL AND FUNGAL SPS

Akanksha Dixit*, Madhur Mishra, A. N. Singh and Madhulika Singh

ABSTRACT

Lichens are valuable natural resources used for centuries throughout the world as medicine, food, fodder, perfume, spices and dyes, as well as for other miscellaneous purposes. This Study investigates the antimicrobial and antifungal properties of Lichen extract (Usnea sps. & Parmotrema sps.) against some human pathogenic bacterial and fungal sps.. In this study the lichen was extracted in acetone and methanol. The bacterial isolates examined in this study were S. aureus, Staphylococcus sps and E.coli. The fungal isolates used in this study were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Candida sps. And Trycophyton sps. In vitro antimicrobial activity was tested initially by Kirby-Bauer technique of disc diffusion method and was confirmed by minimum inhibitory concentration using Broth microdilution method. The methanol extract inhibited growth of staphylococcus sps. with a zone of 0.3 cm (0.2mg/mL conc.) while acetone extract of the lichen had the greatest effect on plates inoculated with S. aureus with a zone of inhibition of 1.4 cm at 0.2 mg/mL concentration. In the Antifungal activities of Parmotrema sps, Candida sps was showed maximum Antifungal Activity (0.9 cm) and Trycophyton sps was showed minimum Antifungal activity (0.6 cm). The present study demonstrates the relatively higher activity of this lichen against bacterial and fungal sps. This indicates that this lichen might be a rich source of effective antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Lichen extract, Antibacterial activity, MIC, Antifungal activity.