BIOLOGICAL SCREENING OF THE CRUDE EXTRACT ISOLATED FROM A SOIL BORN FUNGI Cladosporium carrionii

Cladosporium carrionii were isolated from soil and were grown in Czapek yeast extract broth (CYB) for the production of metabolites. The study was conducted in 2010 at Centre of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar with the objectives to discover some biologically active secondary metabolites. The crude extract and its fractions were tested against the pathogenic fungi namely Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Fusarium solani, Microsporum canis and Trichophyton longifusus, including brine shrimps and Lemna aequinoctialis. The ethyl acetate extract showed highest inhibition of 66 mm against C. albicans, with MIC of 0.25 mg/mL, n-Hexane fraction showed highest inhibition of 63 mm against C. glabrata, with MIC of 0.50 mg/mL and aqueous fraction showed highest inhibition of 56 mm against M. cannis, with MIC of 0.25 mg/mL. The chemical investigation of the extract led to the isolation of pure antibacterial compounds and their structure was confirmed by 1D and 2D spectroscopic techniques. The pure compounds [2-(4,6- dihydroxy-3-oxo-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran-1-yl) acetic acid (1) and 2- (4-hydroxy-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran-1-yl) acetic acid (2)] were isolated from C. carrionii and were tested only against the pathogenic bacteria, which showed growth inhibition activities with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 0.10 mg/mL for compound (1) and 0.50 mg/mL for compound (2).