Benzothiazole—An Antifungal Compound Derived from Medicinal Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum against Mango Anthracnose Pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz and (Sacc.))

The present investigation is focused on exploring the possibilities of identifying biomolecules from the fruiting body of the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum against the mango anthracnose pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. The fruiting body (cap and stipe portion) of G. lucidum extracted with ethyl acetate solvent at a maximum inhibitory concentration of 1 percent exhibited the maximum mycelial growth inhibition of C. gloeosporioides with 70.10 percent and 40.77 percent, respectively. Furthermore, subjecting the ethyl acetate extracts from the cap portion of G. lucidum through thin layer chromatography (TLC) revealed the presence of two bands with Rf values of 0.38 and 0.35. The compounds eluted from band 1 recorded with the maximum mycelial growth inhibition of C. gloeosporioides by 53.77 percent followed by band 2 (46.33 percent) using an agar well diffusion test. Similarly, the analysis of ethyl acetate extracts from the cap portion of G. lucidum through Gas Chromatography-Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) revealed the presence of the organoheterocyclic compound benzothiazole, as expressed in the highest peak area at 22.03 RT with the highest probability percentage (97%). Confirmation of the antifungal nature of benzothiazole was obtained by testing the standard sample of benzothiazole which showed a cent percent of inhibition on mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides at 50 ppm minimum fungicidal concentration. Furthermore, benzothiazole caused abnormality in the mycelial structures, viz., distortion, shrinkage, clumping of mycelium, conidial malformation, and complete arrestment of conidial germination of C. gloeosporioides as observed through Scanning Electron Microscopy. The research on biomolecular extract of G. lucidum could be a novel and interesting concept for the possibility in suppression of plant pathogenic microbes in the natural field.