Isolation and Identification of Endophytic Fungi from Actinidia macrosperma and Investigation of Their Bioactivities

Endophytic fungi from the Chinese medicinal plant Actinidia macrosperma were isolated and identified for the first time. This was the first study to evaluate their cytotoxic and antitumour activities against brine shrimp and five types of tumour cells, respectively. In total, 17 fungal isolates were obtained. Five different taxa were represented by 11 isolates, and six isolates were grouped into the species of Ascomycete Incertae sedis with limited morphological and molecular data. Cytotoxic activity has been found in most isolates except AM05, AM06, and AM10. The isolates AM07 (4.86 mu g/mL), AM11 (7.71 mu g/mL), and AM17 (14.88 mu g/mL) exhibited significant toxicity against brine shrimp. The results of the MTT assay to assess antitumour activity revealed that 82.4% of isolate fermentation broths displayed growth inhibition (50% inhibitory concentration IC50 < 100 mu g/mL). Moreover, AM07, AM11, and AM17 showed strong antitumour activity in all the cell lines examined. These results suggest that endophytic fungi in A. macrosperma are valuable for the isolation and identification of novel cytotoxic and antitumour bioactive agents.