Research Article ISSN 2250-0480 VOL 8 / ISSUE 1 /JANUARY2018 L- 1 Life science Pharmaceuticals ENZYMATIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI ON AEGLE MARMELOS FROM WESTERN GHATS OF TAMIL NADU, INDIA. VELLINGIRI MANON MANI 1&2 * # , AROCKIAM JEYASUNDAR PARIMALA GNANA SOUNDARI 2# KATHIRVEL PREETHI 2 *1 Department of Biotechnology, Hindusthan College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore- 641028, TN, India. *2 Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore- 641046, TN, India. #Both the authors contributed equally Email id: manonmanisathee12@gmail.com ABSTRACT Fungal species expands an endophytic role inside the tissues of medicinal plants and are known to produce metabolites, phytochemicals and enzymes in a wide range with biological properties. In the present investigation, the most dominant and potent endophytic fungal strains of Aeglemarmelos, an ethno medicinal plant prevalent in the forest of Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India were screened for ability to produce exoenzymes like amylase, protease, lipase, cellulase, laccase and xylanase. The representative potent strains were Curvulariaaustraliensis(FC2AP)and Alternariacitrimacularis(FC8ABr) belonged to the same order Pleosporales. The growth of the endophytic fungi was similar with the highest mycelia formation in the respective media. These endophytic fungal strains produced extracellular enzymes in different pH at different incubation period in a considerable range. Furthermore, the endophytes produced phytochemicals constituents flavonoids and phenols, and this unveils that the strains have highest antioxidant properties. The production of enzymes and phytochemicals provided the insights into their origin and ecological role in the host plant. Hence, this study explains the production and biological activity of enzymes and phytochemicals in endophytic fungi. KEYWORDS: Amylase, cellulase, endophytic fungi, lipase, protease, Western Ghats, xylanase. INTRODUCTION Enzymes are the biocatalysts produced by the living cells for specific biochemical reactions generally forming parts of the metabolic processes of the cells. They are highly specific in their action on substrates and often many different enzymes are required to bring about, by concerted action, the sequence of metabolic reactions performed by the living cell. The practical application and industrial use of enzymes to accomplish certain reactions apart from the cell dates back many centuries and was practiced long before the nature or function of enzymes was understood. Comparing to all nonpathogenic microbes, filamentous fungi are supposed to be an interesting one for production of enzymes because of their easy cultivation process and large scale production of enzymes for industrial purposes. In this, endophytic fungi are relatively unexplored area among microbe isolation and it represents a new source for retrieving the enzymes with different potentialities. 1 Theendophytic fungi on medicinal plant are proposed to have unique and extreme habitats possessing novel metabolic and enzyme systems which may help for the host protection and colonization. Furthermore, the endophytes are the economical sources in discovering the novel enzymes for medical purposes and this interest has been drawn after the discovery of taxol which is an anticancer drug used in medicinal fields. 2 Interestingly, knowing the mineral wealth of Western Ghats regions (hotspot of India), we aimed our research to isolate endophytes from this unexplored area. The present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence