ISOLATION, CHARACTERISATION, AND ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIALS OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI OF Ephedra intermedia

6 strains Fusarium, 1 strain Cladosporium, 1 strain Penicillium, 1 strain Pichia kluyveri and 1 strain Alternaria were isolated as endophytic fungi from stems and roots of Ephedra intermedia, based on rDNA sequencing of ITS region. Ethyl acetate extracts of fermented liquid and ethanol extracts of mycelia have been investigated for their reducing power, and scavenging capacity on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and hydroxy radical using in vitro spectrophotometric methods. The results indicate that all the strains fermentation broth showed notable reducing power (more than 100 mu g/mg), three of the fungal strains fermentation broth showed high scavenging activity (scavenging rates more than 70% at a concentration of 0.05 mg/ml), while all extracts from both fermentation broth and mycelia showed poor scavenging capacity against hydroxyl radical, with the highest being that of EI 4 (scavenging rate was 21.17% at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml). Of the 11 strains, the best overall antioxidant capacity was shown by extracts of EI 2 (Pichia kluyveri). The fermented liquid extract of EI 2 showed a very high reducing power (the equivalent content of vitamin C was 693.36 mu g/mg), an outstanding scavenging ability against DPPH radical (scavenging rate was 59.62% at the concentration of 0.05 mg/ml), whereas showed a moderate hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, with the scavenging rate 14.62% at the concentration of 0.5 mg/ml. The observed results strongly plead further study for development of antioxidant and oxidation drugs from endophytic fungi of Ephedra intermedia has very good prospects.