Li Szhen Teh; Preston Larsen; Ian Sudbury; McKay Christensen; Ranae Zauner, Utah Valley University
Ephedra nevadensis is a native plant that can be found across the West from Oregon, California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado to the southern part of California like Baja California and the Southwest desert, which grows in a dry rocky slopes and hills, away from trees (Flora of North America, 1879). E. nevadensis, also known as Mormon tea is a scrub that has no leaf, but flowers in the spring and fruits in the summer, and used widely for medicinal purposes since decades ago. A major function containing microbes that control plant pathogens is by the production of antimicrobials, competition for space or nutrients, and induction of host plant defenses (Reinhold-Hurek et. al, 2011). For many years, endophytes have been studied for their antibiotic, therapeutic agent, and agrochemical uses in medicine; they represent a huge fungal diversity that contain ecological functions that are still poorly known. The objective of this study was to evaluate the isolated endophytes from E. nevadensis located on the leaves, stems and roots for antifungal activity. Samples collected from Utah were isolated and cultured in a potato dextrose sugar agar (PDA) or Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) before taking two different fungi to compete to record for any inhibition activity as a qualitative analysis for antifungal activity. Slide are prepared with agar and cultures done are stained using Mycoperm Mycology stain with fungi samples that showed positive inhibition and observed for evident spores and identification of species. A DNeasy Plant mini kit (Qiagen Cat 69104) was used to isolate the DNA of positive inhibition fungi samples before send to PCR and sequencing to confirm the taxa of fungi. It is important to do this research because humans have become more resistant to present antibiotic in the medicinal realm, thus, inevitably putting some of us at risk in getting treated. Based on Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antibiotic resistant is becoming an alarming public health issue. It is significant to develop new antibiotic drugs, treatment and diagnostic tests to keep up with the development of resistant. Out of the 79 isolates, 59 strains found in this research have shown antifungal properties and potential for future studies. Plant endophytes may produce a plethora of new antifungal compounds yet to be discovered. This research will help by aiming to achieve goal parallel to it.