TY - JOUR T1 - Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Endophytes from Pharmaceutical Agarwood-producing Aquilaria Species JF - Pharmacognosy Research Y1 - 2013 A1 - Subhash J Bhore A1 - Jagadesan Preveena A1 - Kodi I Kandasamy KW - 16S rRNA KW - Biodiversity KW - Endophytes KW - Malaysia KW - Medicine KW - Natural Products KW - Ribosomal DNA KW - Traditional medicine AB -

Background: Resins and gums are used in traditional medicine and do have potential applications in pharmacy and medicine. Agarwood is the fragrant resinous wood, which is an important commodity from Aquilaria species and has been used as a sedative, analgesic, and digestive in traditional medicine. Endophytic bacteria are potentially important in producing pharmaceutical compounds found in the plants. Hence, it was important to understand which types of endophytic bacteria are associated with pharmaceutical agarwood-producing Aquilaria species. Objective: This study was undertaken to isolate and identify endophytic bacteria associated with agarwood-producing seven (7) Aquilaria species from Malaysia. Materials and Methods: Botanical samples of seven Aquilaria species were collected, and endophytic bacteria were isolated from surface-sterilized-tissue samples. The 16S rRNA gene fragments were amplified using PCR method, and endophytic bacterial isolates (EBIs) were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity based method. Results: Culturable, 77 EBIs were analyzed, and results of 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis suggest that 18 different types of endophytic bacteria are associated with (seven) Aquilaria species. From 77 EBIs, majority (36.4%) of the isolates were of Bacillus pumilusConclusion: These findings indicate that agarwood-producing Aquilaria species are harboring 18 different types of culturable endophytic bacteria.

VL - 5 IS - 2 ER -