Antimicrobial Exploration Between Counterpart Endosymbiont and Host Plant (Tamarindus indica Linn.)

Endophytic bacteria produce various bioactive secondary metabolites, which benefit human health. Tamarindus indica L. is well known for its medicinal value in human health care. Several studies have reported on its biological effects from various parts of T. indica, but only a few studies have been devoted to examining the biological activity of endophytes of T. indica.

In the present study, an endophyte was isolated from the leaves of T. indica and screened for its antimicrobial potential.

The selected endophyte was identified by 16s rRNA partial genome sequencing and investigated for their antimicrobial potency. The preliminary phytochemical tests were conducted for the affirmation of phytoconstituents in the endophytic crude ethyl acetate extract of T. indica (TIM) and total phenolic content was performed. The antimicrobial potential of TIM was evaluated against human pathogenic ATCC gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains.

TIM exhibited an appreciable amount of gallic acid equivalent phenolic content (21.6 ± 0.04 mg GAE/g of crude extract). TIM showed the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) at 250 μg/mL and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) at 500 μg/mL among the selected human pathogenic ATCC strains. At MIC of 500 μg/mL, TIM displayed a significant zone of inhibition against P. aeruginosa and N. gonorrhoeae.

The results from our study highlighted for the first time the antimicrobial potential of endophytic bacterial strain Bacillus velezensis in T. indica leaves and it could be further explored as a source of natural antimicrobial agents.