<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-US">Diversity and antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi isolated from <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-US">the seagrass <i>Enhalus acoroides</i> </span></span>

785-797Endophytic fungi were isolated from the seagrass, Enhalus acoroides, collected from Trang province, Thailand. Forty-seven endophytic isolates cultured were classified into 17 phylogenetically diverse genera based on their morphology and molecular analysis of the ITS regions of the rDNA. Most common species were Penicillium (6 isolates), Nigrospora (5), and Fusarium (4) and 2 with unknown taxonomic affinity. Crude extracts including culture media and cells of all isolates were tested for their antimicrobial activities using a colorimetric broth microdilution method against ten potential human pathogens. Extracts from 38 isolates (80.85%) showed antimicrobial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 4 to 200 μg mL-1. Nigrospora sp. PSU-ES5 produced the most active extracts against Microsporum gypseum (MIC 4 to 8 μg mL-1). Endophytic fungi from seagrasses such as E. acoroides could therefore be a good source for obtaining antimicrobial natural products