Antimicrobial Activity of Medicinal Plants Correlates with the Proportion of Antagonistic Endophytes.

Medicinal plants are known to harbor potential endophytic microbes, due to their bioactive compounds. In a first study of ongoing research, endophytic bacteria were isolated from two medicinal plants, and with contrasting antimicrobial activities from the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve of Uzbekistan, and their plant-specific traits involved in biocontrol and plant growth promotion were evaluated. Plant extracts of exhibited a remarkable activity against bacterial and fungal pathogens, whereas extracts of did not exhibit any potential antimicrobial activity. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) was used to identify plant associated culturable endophytic bacteria. The isolated culturable endophytes associated with belong to eight genera (, and ). The endophytic isolates from also contain those genera except , , and . with antibacterial activity supported more bacteria with antagonistic activity, as compared to . The antagonistic isolates were able to control tomato root rot caused by and stimulated plant growth under greenhouse conditions and could thus be a cost-effective source for agro-based biological control agents.