Abstract:16 endophytic strains of fungi were isolated from roots, stems and leaves of two different origins of Arundina graminifolia using classical endophyte isolation method during an interesting investigation on the culturable endophyte communities and diversities of Arundina graminifolia grown in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province and Baise, Guangxi province. Among them, Four endophytic fungi were isolated from Arundina graminifolia grown in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, and 12 endophytic fungi were isolated from Arundina graminifolia grown in Baise, Guangxi province. According to the morphological observation and ITS gene sequence homology analysis, they were divided into 7 categories, including Phanerochaete sp., Phyllosticta capitalensis, Diaporthe sp., Hypoxylon sp., Nodullsporium sp., Chaetomium nigricolor, and the other 10 strains belonging to Colletotrichum sp., indicating that Colletotrichum sp. was a dominant species of endophytic fungi. Two kinds of strains BSSF-2 and YNLF-1 (DPPH free radicals scavenging rate ≥80%) with strong antioxidant activity were obtained by measuring the antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging assay, the reducing ability of Fe3+ and H2O2 radical scavenging assay) of 5 endophytic fungi (i.e., YNLF-1, BSSF-2, BSRF-1, BSRF-2 and BSRF-3). The strain BSSF-2 was identified as Colletotrichum karstii, the strain YNLF-1 was Phanerochaete sp. The results of this study showed that the endophytic fungi of medicinal plants had broad prospects for the development of antioxidant drugs.
