Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Metabolites of a Soil-Derived Fungus Aspergillus arcoverdensis SSSIHL-01

Soil houses a vast array of microbial diversity. Cultured soil microbes have been a good source of many commercial drugs. In the present study, a fungal culture (SSSIHL-01) isolated from soil has been identified as Aspergillus arcoverdensis through morphology and ITS gene sequence. Extracellular culture extract and mycelial extract of the strain SSSIHL-01 were obtained using specific conditions and were evaluated for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Culture extract at 700 µg/mL concentration, showed strong DPPH free radical scavenging capacity with 95.06% comparable with the standard ascorbic acid. At 1 mg/mL concentration, mycelial extract inhibited heat induced Bovine Serum Albumin denaturation of about 31.54% compared to that of 51% produced by the standard diclofenac sodium. Chemical profiling of both the culture and mycelial extracts were investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Some of the major compounds identified from the culture extract were 2,4-ditert-butylphenol, 1-heptacosanol, 1-octadecene, 1-nonadecene that are known to be antioxidative. Mycelial extract presented some major compounds such as ethyl linoleate, oleic acid, n-hexadecanoic acid and ethyl palmitate that are reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. Thus, our study highlights the significance of Aspergillus arcoverdensis as an effective producer of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds for future utility in pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications.