ORIGINAL ARTICLE Sudeep Tiwari & Sailendra Singh & Pallavi Pandey & Shilpi K. Saikia & Arvind Singh Negi & Shailendra K. Gupta & Rakesh Pandey & Suchitra Banerjee Received: 22 November 2013 /Accepted: 16 January 2014 /Published online: 11 February 2014 # Springer-Verlag Wien 2014 Abstract An endophytic fungus was isolated from the rhi- zomes of Curcuma amada (Zingiberaceae), which was iden- tified as Fusarium oxysporum on the basis of its morpholog- ical and molecular characters. Chromatographic separation and spectroscopic analysis of the fungal metabolite (chloro- form extract) led to the identification of one pure compound having molecular formula C 5 H 12 O 2, i.e., 2,3-pentanediol (1). Activity analysis of compound 1 demonstrated improved antiaging (antioxidant, thermotolerance) properties against Caenorhabditis elegans , in comparison to a similar, commer- cially available molecule i.e., 1,5-pentanediol (2). The effec- tive (lower) concentration of 1 significantly showed (28.6 %) higher survival percentage of the worms under thermal stress (37ºC) compared to its higher concentration (25.3 %), while similar trends were followed in oxidative stress where (22.2 %) higher survival percentage was recorded in compar- ison to untreated control. The compound 1, however, lacked potential antimicrobial activity, indicating the plausible rami- fication of the position of OH group in such bioactive mole- cules. In silico evaluation of these molecules against common as well as unique targets corroborated better antiaging poten- tial of 1 in comparison to that of 2. The results for the first time indicated that the utilization of the endophytic fungi of C. amada could, thus, be a possible source for obtaining non-plant-based bioactive compounds having broader thera- peutic applications pertaining to age-related progressions. Keywords Antiaging . Caenorhabditis elegans . Curcuma amada . Endophytic fungus . Fusarium oxysporum . 2,3-pentanediol . 1,5-pentanediol . Molecular docking . Oxidative stress Introduction Endophytes are microorganisms that colonize intercellularly or intracellularly within healthy plant tissues and consequently represent a harmonious symbiotic relationship without caus- ing any apparent harm or disease symptoms to the host plants (Chandra 2012). In recent years, fungal endophytes, especial- ly those from medicinal plants, have drawn worldwide atten- tion as they have not only mimicked the biosynthetic potential of their host plant but have also demonstrated potentials to synthesize unrelated bioactive molecules that find wide- ranging applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry (Zhou et al. 2010; Lin et al. 2011; Bhagat et al. 2012; Suryanarayanan et al. 2012). Advent of modern biotechno- logical tools has documented a far-reaching predictable prac- tical utility of “economically important plant-inhabiting endo- phytic fungi” in industrial production of bioactive substances Handling Editor: Jan Raoul De Mey Sudeep Tiwari and Sailendra Singh contributed equally to this work. S. Tiwari : S. K. Saikia : R. Pandey (*) Microbial Technology and Nematology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India e-mail: r.pandey@cimap.res.in S. Singh : P. Pandey : S. Banerjee (*) Plant Biotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India e-mail: suchitrabanerjee07@yahoo.com A. S. Negi Medicinal Chemistry Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India S. K. Gupta Department of Bioinformatics, Indian Institute of Toxicology and Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India Protoplasma (2014) 251:1089–1098 DOI 10.1007/s00709-014-0617-0 Isolation, structure determination, and antiaging effects of 2,3-pentanediol from endophytic fungus of Curcuma amada and docking studies