Metabolite Detection and Antibacterial Activity of Fungal Endophytic Extracts Isolated from Brotowali (Tinospora crispa) Plants using TLC-Bioautography Assay

Endophytic fungi may be a potent source of bioactive compounds and have a vast repertoire of diverse metabolites. One source of endophytic fungi host plants is a medicinal plant such as Brotowali or Tinospora crispa. Research corresponding to the antibacterial activity of endophytic fungi extracts isolated from T.crispa taken from several regions in West Java has never been reported yet. While antibacterial methods to evaluate their activity as well as to identify the chemical compounds is a TLC-bioautography assay. This research is aimed to investigate the components of endophytic fungal extracts and their antibacterial activity using the TLC-bioautography assay method. In this study, eighty isolates of endophytic fungi have been successfully isolated from plant tissues of T.crispa from several regions in West Java. Antibacterial activity by using TLC (dot-blot) plates revealed that the fungal extracts could inhibit S. aureus (77 extracts) and E. coli (35 extracts) with inhibition zones ranging from 8-30 mm. The endophytic fungi extracts that showed potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (S.aureus) were sixteen extracts, while nine extracts have good inhibition activity against Gram-negative bacteria (E.coli). Among the fungal extracts that have excellent ability against both Gram-positive and negative was namely TcBt1Bd-10 extract. Based on metabolites analysis using the TLC method, the possibility of the chemical compounds that played a role in antibacterial activity of the extracts, including phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids.