Swati Jaast, Mohit Kumar, Anil Kumar
Endophytic fungi inhabit plants asymptomatically and produce host-like bioactive metabolites. This study reports the isolation and identification of the endophytic fungus Aspergillus novoparasiticus CBS126849 (MTCC-13997) from the roots of Capparis decidua ("Ker/Kair"), highlighting its potential as a source of bioactive compounds and enzymes. The isolate was recognized based on phylogenetic analysis of the ITS sequence and morphological features. A. novoparasiticus (MTCC-13997) ethyl acetate crude extract (An-EtOAcE) exhibited notable antimicrobial, antioxidant, antidiabetic, cytotoxic, and extracellular enzymatic activities. The results revealed that An-EtOAcE exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial effects, with maximum inhibition against E. coli (MIC = 0.78 µg/mL) and A. niger (MIC = 3.125 µg/mL). It also showed notable antioxidant activities in both DPPH (IC90 = 278.39 ± 5.34 µg/mL) and ABTS (IC90 = 191.52 ± 3.47 µg/mL) assays, and cytotoxicity against HeLa cancer cell lines, with IC₅₀ values of 0.241 mg/mL. Furthermore, An-EtOAcE showed significant α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibition in antidiabetic activities with IC90 of 125.90 ± 1.32 and 80.60 ± 2.74 µg/mL, respectively. A. novoparasiticus exhibited the highest production of L-asparaginase, ligninolytic, amylase, and protease enzymes in qualitative plate assays. GC-MS analysis of An-EtOAcE identified a complex mixture of 64 compounds, with aziridine, 2-methyl-3-(1-methylethyl)-1-(2-propenyl)-, trans- (11.22%), dibutyl phthalate (7.23%), and 1-hexadecene (5.56%) as the major constituents, indicating that the extract is a rich source of secondary metabolites that are likely to contribute to its observed biological activities. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first report of A. novoparasiticus (MTCC-13997) as an endophytic fungus isolated from C. decidua.