Investigation of Podophyllum peltatum for podophyllotoxin-producing fungal endophytes

The goal of this research was to isolate and culture the endophytic fungi of Podophyllum peltatum and determine their potential to produce the anticancer compound podophyllotoxin (PPT). Organisms were isolated from two different plants harvested in northern Delaware. Plant sections were surfaced sterilized to remove epiphytic organisms. Sections were cultured on two preparations of malt agar media and incubated under three different conditions. Of 215 cultures, 18 morphologically distinct endophytic fungi were isolated and further analyzed for the ability to produce PPT. These isolates were grown in malt broth culture and the biomass and spent culture media were analyzed for the presence of PPT. The biomass was dried and extracted by Soxhlet in ethanol. The culture media were solid phase extracted. Extracts were then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography for the presence of PPT. Two culture media extracts from two rhizome isolates were found to contain PPT.