Screening of endophytic fungi for lipase inhibitors as therapeutic modalities in obesity treatment

Abstract

In the current study, culture filtrates of 71 endophytic fungal isolates from different medicinal plants were screened for their lipase inhibitory activity. 8 fungal isolates including #1069 AMSTYEL, #1013 AMSTITYEL, #1058 AMSTITYEL, # 59 AMSTWLS showed inhibition of the pancreatic lipase during primary screening using phenol red and rhodamine B plate assay. Quantitative estimation via PNPL assay of the culture filtrate and ethyl acetate residue of #1069 AMSTYEL exhibited 100% and 84.3% inhibition of the given pancreatic lipase. The culture filtrate produced over Czapek Dox Broth (CDB) was extracted with different organic solved based on their polarity. Spectrophotometric analysis reveals that the ethyl acetate residue exhibited maximum inhibitory activity. The ethyl acetate residue was further partially purified using TLC. Out of three fractions obtained, the third fraction showed 84.6% inhibition of the provided porcine pancreatic lipase. The endophytic fungus producing lipase inhibitor molecule was taxonomically identified as Fusarium species based on morphotaxonomy and molecular tools. Further studies on purification and characterization would open the possibilities for the production of a novel lipase inhibitor used in obesity treatement.