Identification and in vitro bioactivity screening of some marine-derived fungi from Turkish coastlines

The marine environment represents a great variety of conditions of pressure, temperature, salinity, and light depending on depth, latitude and interactions with the continental shelf. These extreme and variable conditions enforce marine-derived microbial communities to produce a variety of structurally complex secondary metabolites which may have considerable pharmaceutical potential. In this study four marine-derived fungi were successfully isolated and identified from marine invertebrates (Axinella cannabina, Aplysina aerophoba, Axinella verrucosa, Dendrectilla tremitersis) and investigated for their antioxidant, cytotoxic, antifungal and antimicrobial activities. Three marine fungi strains - Aspergillus sp., Trichoderma sp. and Rhizopus oryzae - were isolated and identified genotypically. Aspergillus sp. had the highest antioxidant activity, and together with Rhizopus oryzae also showed significant cytotoxic activity against HCT-116 cell line. Moreover, among the tested marine-derived fungi extracts Aspergillus sp. was exhibited the highest antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea.