Kip Brower, Utah Valley University
Physical Sciences
Juniperus osteoperma has been reported to exhibit beneficial pharmacological activity against symptoms of diabetes, as a traditional treatment for kidney ailment and the essential oil of juniper berries has also been subject to investigation for antioxidant activities. Endophytes, particularly endophytic fungi, have produced numerous novel bioactive compounds, several of which are currently used as antifungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer agents in organisms other than their plant hosts. This investigation looks into the possibility of endophytic fungi being a means of producing compounds that may be a functioning agent in antioxidant, antifungal, or hyper/hypoglycemic activities of Juniperus osteoperma. The investigation involves samples of Juniperus osteoperma collected from multiple different locations within Utah, and isolates the resident endophytic fungi.
The endophytes are initially grown on potato dextrose agar plates and then transferred to liquid media to assist with the isolation process. The isolated endophytes are then screened for bioactivity and their active compounds are identified utilizing HPLC, TLC, and other various separation techniques. Their chemical structures are determined via spectroscopic techniques including mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Further, differences between similar endophytes and their isolated compounds may be due to the difference in location of the samples obtained. Those differences may indicate varying coping strategies among the endophytes affected by the host’s living conditions. As a part of this investigation, potential differences of the compounds produced by these organisms in the multiple samples will be explored to see how location of the plant within the state affects the endophytes grown and the compounds produced therein.