Endophytic Microorganisms in Leaves of Moringa oleifera Collected in Three Localities at Pernambuco State, Northeastern Brazil

Aims: This work investigated the population density of endophytic microorganisms from Moringa oleifera leaves collected in three localities at the state of Pernambuco (northeastern Brazil): Urban (campus from the Federal University of Pernambuco, UFPE) and forest (botanical garden) areas at Recife city and an urban area (industrial district) at Caruaru city.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Antibiotics and Department of Biochemistry from Federal University of Pernambuco, between July 2014 and July 2015.

Methodology: Sodium hypochlorite was used to disinfect the leaves, which were macerated in PBS buffer and separately sowed on seven culture media containing antibacterial or antifungal agents.

Results: The most of endophytes isolated were bacteria and the highest density was found in leaves from the forest area. With respect to the fungi, there was no statistical difference between the density in leaves from UFPE campus and the botanical garden while no fungal isolates was obtained from leaves collected in Caruaru. The highest diversity of endophytes was found in the leaves from the botanical garden, with 111 different isolates. A total of 71, 94 and 50 bacterial isolates were obtained from leaves of UFPE campus, botanical garden and Caruaru, respectively. The number of fungal isolates were 17 (UFPE campus) and 12 (botanical garden).

Conclusion: In conclusion, the methodology employed in this work was effective for the isolation of endophytes; climatic and geographical conditions may interfere in density and diversity of endophytes from M. oleifera leaves.