Detection of Spectral Signature of Mangrove Forests along Red Sea Using Hyperspectral Data and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Mangrove Endophytic Fungi

Abstract

Mangrove endophytic fungi, special type of microorganisms known as a treasure house for the production of bioactive metabolites, continues to drive the research of biological evaluation in this field specially in the presence of drug-resistance of various pathogens that is the main cause of deaths worldwide. To overcome this problem and to decrease the high mortality rate, investigation and discovery of novel natural sources of antibiotics are very important; this study aims to isolate and identify the mangrove endophytic fungi from the leaves of Avicennia marine and to examine their antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The isolated fungi was grown on malt extract agar medium at 28oC under static conditions and its ethanol (70%) extract was then tested for its antimicrobial activity against five pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes as Gram-positive bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris as Gram-negative bacteria, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum as pathogenic fungi and Candida albicans as yeast.