Fungal endophytes associated with Viola odorata Linn. as bioresource for pancreatic lipase inhibitors

BACKGROUND: As per the recent statistical reports of World Health Organisation (WHO), 13% of total global population is obese. Orlistat remains to be the only drug approved for the long term treatment of obesity. Recent findings highlighted severe adverse effects of orlistat that included hepatotoxicity, gall stones, kidney stones and acute pancreatitis. Therefore, search for new drug is required. The investigations based on endophytic natural products would prove pivotal in the global fight against this health issue. METHODS: Obesity is associated with lipid metabolism involving pancreatic lipase enzyme. The inhibition of pancreatic lipase is demonstrated by using the extracts of endophytes isolated from Viola odorata Linn. In addition, endophytes were identified using ITS based rDNA sequencing. RESULTS: Present study involves the isolation and identification of 27 endophytes from V. odorata. All the endophytes were evaluated for lipase inhibitory activities. The extracts of seven endophytes exhibited lipase inhibitory activity with IC(50) < 10 μg/mL. The extract of VOLF4 (Aspergillus sp.) displayed promising lipase inhibitory activity (IC(50) 3.8 μg/mL). CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that V. odorata harbors endophytic community with potent lipase inhibitory activity. VOLF4 is the potential endophyte. The extract of VOLF4 can be used to develop the potential drug to treat obesity.