Paper Title
Endophytic Fungi From Tropical Ethnoveterinary Plant and Their Antifungal Efficacy Against Candida Albicans

Abstract
Candida albicans is an important veterinary pathogen causing infections in animals and birds. Nowadays, different reports have described the severity of infections, increasing resistance of micro-organisms to antibiotics, and the contribution of ethnoveterinary practices towards the treatment of various ailments of animals. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antifungal efficacy of the ethanolic extracts of endophytic fungi against Candida albicans. A total of five endophytic fungi were isolated from a tropical ethnoveterinary plant, Calotropis gigantea L. The ethanolic extracts of the endophytic fungi were subjected to in vitro antifungal activity by the well diffusion method. Besides, we evaluated the treatment of mice with the potent fungal extract and observed the effects in different organs under electron microscopy. Our results showed that two fungal extract had antifungal activity against the selected pathogen. The best antifungal activity was showed by the extract of the endophytic fungi, Phomopsis asparagi, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 46.9 μg/mL. Treatment of mice with the potent fungal extract caused a considerable inhibitory effect on the pathogen growth in vital organ, which was also confirmed by histopathological studies made by scanning electron microscopy. The present findings indicated that the endophytic fungi Phomopsis asparagi has the potential to provide an effective treatment against infections caused by Candida albicans. However, the isolation of bioactive components needs further investigation. Index Terms— Antifungal, Candida albicans, Ethnoveterinary plants, Endophytic fungi, Scanning electron microscopy.